A day or two ago I heard a report that the area around Santorin is experiencing an earthquake cluster.
Now it seems that the quakes are centered around the volcano at Santorin, also called “Thera”
When that last exploded some 3600 years ago the Minoan civilization was scattered and went extinct soon after. There is also a suggestion that the eruption was the “Pillar of smoke by day and the pillars of fire at night” as described in Exodus 13.21.
It looks like the island is being evacuated and perhaps it will die down again, but with the rumblings in the Phlegraean Fields in Italy I am wondering if we are in for a major eruption.
1 Like
Apocalypse Anxiety. Exhibit 57.
1 Like
“The world is ending” is a coping mechanism to face our own mortality.
With that said, something is happening. Report from European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.
1 Like
Just for comparison, earthquake data from la Palma island volcano, Spain 2021.
When I saw this, my jaw went to the floor. By positioning earthquake position of origin, it was possible to track the magma traveling from deep underground to the surface with an incredible resolution. Of course, several instruments are needed (white triangles = seismological stations)
Not sure if info like this is available for Santorini since the alleged volcano is in the middle of nowhere under the sea (no measuring instruments).
1 Like
That was fascinating to watch enfold. Some friends there sent me some great footage.
Seem to think it’s more tectonic plate movement than volcanic activity.
“Greek authorities have said that the recent tremors were related to tectonic plate movements instead of volcanic activity.”
1 Like
Dont they go hand in hand?
1 Like
I’m no geologist but I would say you would need one of those magma bubbles underneath the plates under greater pressure than can be held back to create volcanic activity.
I seem to remember that it depends on the volcano type. A Plinian eruption would require a magma bubble to burst, but a trap eruption can be either.
Not sure… on shaky ground here.
1 Like
Ah… then it’s an earthquake. 
Wait a minute, help me make sense of this.
Is it correct to say that
i) the scatterplots in quadrant 1 and quadrant 3 give the xy-coordinates for each earthquake (plus the z-coordinate of each, the depth each occurred at)
ii) the z-coordinate changes, the depth of each of those quakes. The depth changed from 10km below to the explosion (at around 0km or +1km) in just one week.
iii) The sequence of the quakes looks as if there was a path upwards, a flow or chimney effect (whichever term you prefer).
The quakes you chart are the precursor of the La Palma eruption, which occurred sept 19, 2021.
How does that relate to the present situation on Santorini? Are you guys (your colleagues perhaps) speculating that some similar development might be happening?
Poor speculation from my side by linking increase in frequency and intensity of earthquakes.
People who know better tell it’s only a fault not related to volcano activity. An eventual tsunami should probably be something more important to think about.
Last week, Greece’s Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry announced that sensors had picked up “mild seismic-volcanic activity” inside the caldera. Similar activity in 2011 lasted for 14 months and ended without any issues.
Scientists say the current quakes are unrelated to the volcanic activity.
1 Like
Not my main point, though I’m quite grateful for your expertise. Sorry if that’s not clear. My primary question is the interpretation of “your” chart, the connection to Santorini is downstream of that.
i) quadrant 1 is a cross section from North-South, with Z (depth) in show in horizontal axis. quadrant 3 is a East-West cross section with Z(depth) in the vertical axis.
ii) yes, Z is depth and earthquakes moved “up” as magma was rising from deep below.
iii) yes, an upward flow was identified. Sadly, evacuation of people was not good in spite of the great job from geoscience people.
1 Like
No need to go 3600 years back, it seems there was a big earthquake in Santorin in 1956 : 529 houses destroyed, 53 people died, plus 3 due to the tsunami.
Just been listening to a report. Although there are earthquakes in the region all the time, major quakes are rare. the last major quake was around 500 years ago which decimated the entire region. Geologists think that there have been five Thera sized eruptions coupled with major quakes since the volcano first formed.
It seems though that an eruption is not likely and that the quake swarm is from the two plates moving, it could die down or it could be a major quake in the region.
Sisemographs are being deployed which will tell more in the next few days, but for now they are still guessing.
Greek here, with close friends living in Santorini with hotels right on the cliff of the caldera. Thankfully they’re taking their winter break abroad, so they don’t have to deal with evacuations etc.
- Santorini has an active volcano, and its activity has made small islands and other formations pop in and out of the sea, some of them quite recently. The eruption of 1600 BC was one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) in human history.
- There is a full team of geologists on site monitoring the situation and they’re convinved that this is not related to the volcano, and they don’t see possibilities that they’re is going to be an eruption or anything like that. The earthquakes are moving to the north-east, away from the island and the main volcano. There was some activity around the second volcano in the area (Kolumbo) which again is not of worry. Geologists say that they’re hoping that there is going to be an earthquake of around 5 to 5.3 Richter scale, so that it defuses the situation. Not clear to me if that’s a prediction, or a wish for activity that will be enough to release pressure but not enough to damage stuff. Anything above 5.5 will be ugly.
10k people have evacuated already.
The island had a not great season last year, and this is the last thing they needed for this year unfortunately. Greece is quite active in terms of earthquakes, as we’re at the edge of the plate. There have been many devastating earthquakes, a couple in my lifetime, like the one of 6.6 Richter scale in Athens that I vividly remember from the news as we were not living in Athens. Throughout the 20th century, many islands, towns, villages were hit bad from different earthquakes and it’s always been bad for the populations.
In the island of Lefkada there was a big quake in 2004 or 2006 (I don’t remember exactly) that pretty much changed completely a couple of beaches on the west coast, and caused a lot of infrastructure damage.
Here’s hoping it all ends well, but people are justifiably a bit on edge.
1 Like
Why?
It’s a bit of a complex and nuanced discussion, but from what I understand from tourism professionals that have been there for a couple of generations now, the island has some places that can charge a pretty penny, but then the rest of the infrastructure does not follow through with the implied promise to the wealthy tourist they’re now clearly targetting.
To put it in a simplistic example, you have an amazing hotel, and then you go to an amazing restaurant, but in the middle you have an island that can barely cope with the volume of people. And this is everything from traffic and congestion all the way to garbage collection etc. And obviously many places like hotels and restaurants charge a lot because it’s Santorini, not because they offer something that justifies the price. I mean don’t get me wrong, waking up in the caldera with that view is pretty amazing, and sunsets are glorious, and the people are great, but this can justify a price up to a certain level. Above that, you’re also expecting a service that some places can’t/won’t offer. So people are getting wind of that and then everybody suffers. And at all times you feel like someone is trying to take advantage of you and just charge exorbitant prices (because some few people do, and then it becomes the fly in the soup).
And then you also have the problem of keeping a balance between how many people are too many people or not enough people…
It’s also a cyclical business, and some years are just not as great as others, but generally speaking 2024 was not a great season.
Santorini is great and there are great ways to enjoy it without being an oil magnate. I wish for everyone to visit because it’s trully an awe inspiring place, that also happens to be a Greek island which is a huge bonus in and of itself.
But tourism is unfortunately (?) also a business which makes things weird. You need tourism to develop a place, but if you do it too much or not in the right way it kind of ruins it…
2 Likes
“Authorities said monitors had picked up increased volcanic activity within Santorini’s caldera, or flooded crater, but scientists say this is unrelated to the quakes.”
Hmmm.
1 Like