About the volcano
Santorini is a sea-flooded caldera whose rim is formed by the islands of Thira, Thirasia and Aspronisi. In the Bronze Age, in the second millennium BCE, it produced the Minoan eruption – one of the largest in human history. Pumice and ash buried the town of Akrotiri, whose well-preserved ruins were excavated in the 20th century. The exact date of the eruption is still debated: radiocarbon dating and archaeological evidence differ by more than a century. Later, smaller eruptions built the islets of Palea and Nea Kameni in the middle of the caldera; the most recent was in 1950.
Eruption history
VEI – Volcanic Explosivity Index: 0 = lava outpouring, 4 = like Eyjafjallajökull 2010, 6 = like Pinatubo 1991, 7 = like Tambora 1815. The scale is logarithmic – each step is about 10 times more material.
| Start | End | VEI | Vent and dating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 January 1950 | 2 February 1950 | 2 | Nea Kameni (Liatsikas dome) · Observations: Reported |
| 20 August 1939 | 2 July 1941 | 2 | Nea Kameni (Triton, Ktenas, Fouque domes) · Observations: Reported |
| 23 January 1928 | 17 March 1928 | 2 | Nea Kameni (Naftilos dome) · Observations: Reported |
| 11 August 1925 | 16 May 1926 | 2 | Nea Kameni (Dafni dome) · Observations: Reported |
| 26 January 1866 | 15 October 1870 | 2 | Georgios, Afroessa and Reka domes · Observations: Reported |
| 23 May 1707 | 14 September 1711 | 3 | Nea Kameni · Observations: Reported |
| 1570 | 1573 | 3 | Mikri Kameni · Observations: Reported |
| 15 July 726 | — | 4 | NE side of Thia Island · Observations: Reported |
| 31 December 46 | 1 February 47 | 3 | Thia Island · Observations: Reported |
| 197 BCE | — | 3 | Hiera Island · Observations: Reported |
| 1,610 BCE ± 14 years | — | 7 | Isotopic: 14C (calibrated) |
Data: Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution (#212040) · Wikipedia (pl) · Wikipedia (en)