In recent times, the earthquakes that have occurred in the Santorini area have attracted a lot of attention and, as often happens, have triggered the alarm on the risk of an imminent eruption of the volcano. The first shocks were felt Saturday 1 February and have reached a magnitude of 5.0. In these days, many residents have left the island on flights and ferries and the authorities, to protect the population from any collapses or landslides, which currently represent the main danger, the authorities have closed the schools. But all stop: these seismic events They are not directly connected to the volcano itself. Instead, they are linked to movements of tectonic faults active in the Aegean Sea region. The volcano is monitored: it is not known if recent shocks can lead to volcanic activities in the future, but for now There are no signs of imminent eruption.
What the earthquakes in Santorini is causing
We start from a fundamental point: not all earthquakes in volcanic areas are caused by the volcano. The Santorini archipelago is located in the area of the African tectonic plaque that slides under that Eurasian In a process known as subduction. This phenomenon generates one Large amount of energy which accumulates active busty faults, such as those of the Hellenic pit and the southern Egyptian fault system. The recent earthquakes recorded in Santorini are linked to these faults. Are earthquakes of tectonic origin, caused by the effort accumulated along the plates, and not by magma movements under the volcano.
Now that we have clarified this aspect, let’s go back in time.
The birth of the island of Santorini
The geological history of Santorini begins about 2 million years agowhen volcanic activity in the volcanic system of the southern Aegean arch gave rise to the first volcanic buildings. This activity is closely linked to the subduction of African plaque under Eurasian, which generates magma through the partial merger of the terrestrial cloak. Santorini is not a “simple” volcano: it is a volcanic complex formed by different eruptive phases. Its current form a crescent surrounded one Caldera, A huge depression created by the collapse of the soil after a series of catastrophic eruptions.
The miniic eruption, the cataclysm that changed history
The most famous of these eruptions is the so -called Minoan eruption, about 3,600 years ago, In the 17th century BC this was one of the eruptions more violent in human historywith an index of volcanic explosiveness (Vei) Of 6 or maybe too 7. The eruption expelled about 30-60 km³ of pyroclastic materialprojecting ash and pumice up to 36 km in height and generating tsunami who affected the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean. The consequences were devastating: The prehistoric city of Akrotiri, one of the most advanced in Minoan civilization, was completely buried below ash. Some scholars hypothesize that this event may have inspired the myth of Atlantis described by Plato.
Ancient eruptions and the super-entertainment of 520,000 years ago
But the minoic eruption It was not the largest in Santorini’s story. Thanks to recent searches of the Iodp Expedition 398 perforation project, we know that approximately 520,000 years ago A submarine super-entertainment took place, known as the eruption of the Archaeos Tuff. This eruption was Ten times more powerful of that of 2022 of the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai. The pyroclastic flows went up to 70 km away from the craterdepositing layers of volcanic material thick up to 150 meters on the seabed.
This discovery shows us how much it is incomplete The volcanic history that we can reconstruct only by observing the surface of the islands. The sea, in fact, hides a fundamental geological archive to understand the true scope of past eruptions.
The birth of the Nea and Palea Kameni island and recent eruptions
After the Minoan eruption, the Vulcano di Santorini He never went out completely. The most recent eruptions have built the islands of Nea Kameni And Palea Kameni, that emerge right at the center of the Caldera. The last significant eruption occurred in 1950, with modest flows of lava and fumarolic activity. Today the area remains supervised by seismic and geodesic monitoring networksbut it is important to remember that the current volcanic activity is of low intensity. The two magmatic chambers identified under Santorini are constantly monitored, and there are no signs of an imminent eruption.
In summary, recent earthquakes in Santorini must not make us think automatically about an incoming eruption. They are the result tectonic activity that for millions of years has been plasma the Mediterranean. But if there is a lesson that the geological history of Santorini teaches us, it is that the earth is a dynamic system, where the past helps us to understand the present … and perhaps to prepare for the future.
