Santorini Eruption Analyzed

via National Geographic.

New data analyzed on the volcanic eruption of Santorini, believed to have caused the end of the Minoan civiliztion 3600 years ago, determine that the event was perhaps twice as large as previously thought, and the second largest during the human historical era.

"a team of Greek and U.S. researchers estimate that the volcano released 14 cubic miles (60 cubic kilometers) of magma—six times more than the infamous 1883 eruption of Krakatau (Krakatoa). Only one eruption in human history is believed to have been larger: an 1815 explosion of Tambora, in Indonesia, which released 24 cubic miles (100 cubic kilometers) of magma."

The Krakatoa explosion caused 100 ft tsunamis and killed thousands, and the scale of the Santorini eruption would have been far worse, particularly in Crete, which lies only a few dozen miles away. At the time of the eruption, the Minoan civilization based there was one of the most advanced in the world, with indoor plumbing, highly decorated palaces and a trade empire that extended throughout the Mediterranean basin. It is thought that the Santorini explosion is the historical basis for the Atlantis myth, and perhaps also that of the Biblical flood.