| Abstract |
Santorini is one of the most original, beautiful and impressive volcanic islands complex in this planet. At the same time it was one of the most violent and destructive volcanoes on Earth. Approximately two million years ago the volcanic activity in the area produced the first molten rock. It has taken thousands of eruptions since then to build up the present shape of Santorini. In the last 400,000 years there have been more than 100 eruptions slowly adding more rock and making the island bigger. Some of these eruptions were so violent that they demolished a large part of the volcano. This activity shaped the civilization which developed on the island. The last catastrophic eruption occurred 3600 years ago, during the Late Bronze Age. It extinguished every trace of life and civilization which flourished in the Aegean. The tremendous eruption of 1600 B.C., known as the Minoan Eruption, ejected into the air 30 km3 of magma in the form of pumice and volcanic ash. This material buried the island, plants, animals, people and its culture. The most recent eruptions at Santorini occurred in 1939, 1941 and 1950. In this paper we present a brief description of the historical and recent volcanic activity in Santorini, the collapse of the original volcano and the formation of the present island complex, composed with the fragments that remained above the surface of the sea after the collapse. Several superficial evidences, like abnormal temperatures, a gas - leakage anomaly near one of the main island |