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Location Information:
Santorini also known as Thera is a
volcanic island located in the
southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km
(120 mi) southeast from Greece's
mainland. It is the largest island
of a small, circular archipelago
which bears the same name. It forms
the southernmost member of the
Cyclades group of islands, with an
area of approximately 73 km2 (28 sq
mi) and a 2001 census population of
13,670. It is composed of the
Municipality of Thira (pop. 12,440)
and the Community of Oía, pop.
1,230, which includes 268
inhabitants resident on the offshore
island of Therasia, lying to the
west). These have a total land area
of 90.623 km2 (34.990 sq mi), which
also includes the uninhabited
islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni,
Aspronisi, and Christiana (all part
of the Municipality of Thira).
Santorini is essentially what
remains of an enormous volcanic
explosion, destroying the earliest
settlements on what was formerly a
single island, and leading to the
creation of the current geological
caldera. It is the most active
volcanic centre in the South Aegean
Volcanic Arc, though what remains
today is chiefly a water-filled
caldera. The volcanic arc is
approximately 500 km long and 20-40
km wide. The region first became
volcanically active around 3-4
million years ago though volcanism
on Thera began around 2 million
years ago with the extrusion of
dacitic lavas from vents around the
region of Akrotiri.
The
island is the site of one of the
largest volcanic eruptions in
recorded history: the Minoan
eruption (sometimes called the Thera
eruption), which occurred some 3,600
years ago at the height of the
Minoan civilization. The eruption
left a large caldera surrounded by
volcanic ash deposits hundreds of
feet deep and may have led
indirectly to the collapse of the
Minoan civilization on the island of
Crete, 110 km (68 mi) to the south,
through the creation of a gigantic
tsunami. Another popular theory
holds that the Thera eruption is the
source of the legend of Atlantis.
In
1707 an undersea volcano breached
the sea surface, forming the current
centre of activity at Nea Kameni in
the centre of the lagoon, and
eruptions centred on it continue -
the twentieth century saw three
such, the last in 1950. Santorini
was also struck by a devastating
earthquake in 1956. Although the
volcano is quiescent at the present
time, at the current active crater
(there are several former craters on
Nea Kameni), steam and sulphur
dioxide are given off.
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