Greece’s Santorini volcano erupts more often when sea level drops- New Findings.
Lower sea levels over the last 360,000 years are linked with more eruptions.
About
Santorini is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km southeast from the Greek mainland.
It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago, which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera.
It is the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc.
It forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands.
The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred about 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization and led to its collapse.
Findings
When the sea level dropped at least 40 meters below the present-day level, the crust above the magma chamber splintered.
That gives an opportunity for the magma that’s stored under the volcano to move up through these fractures and make its way to the surface.