The return of Atlantis??
Posted by Sane Spirit on Thursday, September 20, 2012
Under: In the News
This research follows reports earlier in the year of renewed earthquake activity beneath the volcano after it had been silent for the past 25 years. The reports have spurred concerns the volcano could erupt in the near future, but when that might happen is still unclear, researchers said in a statement.
"Before this work, we didn't really know how the volcano behaved during the periods of time between eruptions," David Pyle, an Oxford University researcher and study co-author, told OurAmazingPlanet. "Now, it looks as though the magma chambers beneath volcanoes like Santorini grow in spurts."
[,,,]
If the volcano did erupt, it wouldn't be likely to create nearly as much havoc is it did in the time of the Minoans, since it is much smaller today than it was in the past. But it's still important to keep an eye on the volcano, the researchers warn.
[,,,]
There has been much speculation as to whether the Santorini eruption inspired the legend of Atlantis, which Plato said drowned in the ocean. Although someexperts think the legend of Atlantis was just invented, others say the explosion might have given rise to the tale of a lost empire by helping to wipe out the real-life Minoan civilization that once thrived in the Mediterranean.
Magma Pooling Beneath Infamous Greek Volcano
See also:
'Atlantis'-killer volcano under island of Santorini wakes again
IT destroyed the Minoan civilisation and sent shockwaves through history as the legend of Atlantis. Now, the volcano of Santorini is stirring again. Almost four thousand years ago, the island of Santorini was probably much as it is now - a scenic retreat for the Minoan's wealthy and powerful. And history may be set to repeat itself: Magma has been detected once again pouring up to 20 million cubic metres of molten rock into chambers deep beneath the idyllic island. A report in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience says the island has lifted as much as 14 centimetres in recent years. And seismic sensors placed around the island earlier this year registered a string of small earthquakes - the first after 25 years of dormancy.
Santorini Bulges as Magma Balloons Underneath
"Since the earthquake activity and the rate of bulging have both slowed right down in the last few months, it doesn't look as though the volcano is about to start to erupt, and it is quite likely that it could remain quiet for another few years or decades. We simply don't know enough about the lifecycle of large volcanoes in between eruptions to be certain, which is why the new research we are reporting is interesting."
[,,,]
Part of the municipality of Santorini, Nea Kameni ("new burnt island") is a small uninhabited (and geologically active) island within the flooded Santorini caldera. That caldera, which forms the Santorini island group today, was formed during the volcano's last major eruption, some 3,600 years ago. That was the second-largest blast in human history and may have destroyed the Minoan civilization on nearby Crete (and possibly inspired the myth of Atlantis).
[,,,]
The findings suggest "that these sorts of volcanoes don't always have a large reservoir of molten rock under them waiting to erupt. That develops in pulses, and we've just seen a small [yearlong] pulse that probably delivered" an injection of molten rock equal to about 20 years' worth of "normal" upwellings, he said.
[,,,]
"My gut feeling is that some large volcanoes like Santorini and Yellowstone spend hundreds or thousands of years in a state of what you'd call dormancy," Pyle said. "But they'll often have these little restless patches, because there is molten rock moving around at depth. These types of phenomena are likely to be common, but you need the right instruments and technology to detect what are usually rather small changes in behavior."
"Before this work, we didn't really know how the volcano behaved during the periods of time between eruptions," David Pyle, an Oxford University researcher and study co-author, told OurAmazingPlanet. "Now, it looks as though the magma chambers beneath volcanoes like Santorini grow in spurts."
[,,,]
If the volcano did erupt, it wouldn't be likely to create nearly as much havoc is it did in the time of the Minoans, since it is much smaller today than it was in the past. But it's still important to keep an eye on the volcano, the researchers warn.
[,,,]
There has been much speculation as to whether the Santorini eruption inspired the legend of Atlantis, which Plato said drowned in the ocean. Although someexperts think the legend of Atlantis was just invented, others say the explosion might have given rise to the tale of a lost empire by helping to wipe out the real-life Minoan civilization that once thrived in the Mediterranean.
Magma Pooling Beneath Infamous Greek Volcano
See also:
'Atlantis'-killer volcano under island of Santorini wakes again
IT destroyed the Minoan civilisation and sent shockwaves through history as the legend of Atlantis. Now, the volcano of Santorini is stirring again. Almost four thousand years ago, the island of Santorini was probably much as it is now - a scenic retreat for the Minoan's wealthy and powerful. And history may be set to repeat itself: Magma has been detected once again pouring up to 20 million cubic metres of molten rock into chambers deep beneath the idyllic island. A report in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience says the island has lifted as much as 14 centimetres in recent years. And seismic sensors placed around the island earlier this year registered a string of small earthquakes - the first after 25 years of dormancy.
Santorini Bulges as Magma Balloons Underneath
"Since the earthquake activity and the rate of bulging have both slowed right down in the last few months, it doesn't look as though the volcano is about to start to erupt, and it is quite likely that it could remain quiet for another few years or decades. We simply don't know enough about the lifecycle of large volcanoes in between eruptions to be certain, which is why the new research we are reporting is interesting."
[,,,]
Part of the municipality of Santorini, Nea Kameni ("new burnt island") is a small uninhabited (and geologically active) island within the flooded Santorini caldera. That caldera, which forms the Santorini island group today, was formed during the volcano's last major eruption, some 3,600 years ago. That was the second-largest blast in human history and may have destroyed the Minoan civilization on nearby Crete (and possibly inspired the myth of Atlantis).
[,,,]
The findings suggest "that these sorts of volcanoes don't always have a large reservoir of molten rock under them waiting to erupt. That develops in pulses, and we've just seen a small [yearlong] pulse that probably delivered" an injection of molten rock equal to about 20 years' worth of "normal" upwellings, he said.
[,,,]
"My gut feeling is that some large volcanoes like Santorini and Yellowstone spend hundreds or thousands of years in a state of what you'd call dormancy," Pyle said. "But they'll often have these little restless patches, because there is molten rock moving around at depth. These types of phenomena are likely to be common, but you need the right instruments and technology to detect what are usually rather small changes in behavior."
In : In the News