The Minoan Volcanic Eruption : Bronze Age 1600 BC
The group of islands known as Santorini is unique. Probably the only volcano with a caldera that reaches into the sea, the last major explosion occurred during the Minoan Bronze Age 3,600 years ago.
Santorini is one of the 5 volcanic centers making up the southern Aegean volcanic arc. Rising out from the deep blue sea, the volcanic cliffs are full of gleaming white houses and churches with blue domes , resembling snowcapped mountains
The island of Santorini is the result of a complex history of volcanic eruptions over about 2 million years, during which the island has changed its shape and size repeatedly.
Ash fell over a large area in the eastern Mediterranean and Turkey and volcanic ash was found until Japan. The eruption also caused a partial damage to the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete.
The Kameni Islands was created after the caldera. Eleven eruptions since 197 B.C. have made the two islands. The most recent eruption at Santorini was in 1950 on Nea Kameni, the northern island. The eruption was phreatic and lasted less than a month. It constructed a dome and produced lava flows.
