The Santorini Cataclysm; Greece’s Recently Discovered Megaeruption

During the early Bronze Age, one of the largest and most destructive volcanic eruptions in human history occurred, striking a primary settlement of the Minoan civilization. This destructive event originated from Greece’s island of Santorini, tearing an hole (a caldera) in the middle of the island. Yet, recent evidence has suggested that this was not the first similarly sized eruption to have originated from Santorini. As, around half a million years ago, a volcanic megaeruption caused pyroclastic flows to race across thousands of square kilometers of ocean, going on to reach the islands of Anafi and Christiana. Thumbnail Photo Credit: Larsen, J. F., Alaska Volcano Observatory / University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute, This image was overlaid with text, and then overlaid with GeologyHub made graphics (the image border & the GeologyHub logo). Note: This thumbnail displays an image from the 2008 eruption of Alask