posted on Jan, 26 2012 @ 09:15 AM
Originally posted by Afterthought
reply to post by Flavian
Thanks for posting this, Flavian.
I remember watching a History Channel program about this volcano, but I don't recall hearing anything about the strength of the eruption.
Considering the 1927 eruption, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the greatest, what would it be ranked if it was considered a minor eruption?
Thanks in advance.
No problem at all
It is fairly hard to quantify in terms of a 1-10 scale. I would say think on the lines of the current eruptions at Hierro in the Canaries. These
eruptions included 4 phreatic explosions and created an cloud 3.2km high. So not great to be next to but not an immediate threat to life either!
A bit more info on Santorini:
It is one of the worlds most violent calderas. There have been over 100 violent explosive eruptions within the last 400,000 years. Of these, at least
12 have produced magma volumes exceeding a couple of cubic kilometres (or put another way, at least 12 on the VEI scale). Of these 12, the last was
the eruption of Thera that signalled the end of the Bronze Age.
However, these major explosive blasts appear to be roughly every 20'000 years (fairly regular averages) so in that respect, in theory, there is
nothing to worry about for the next 15'000 years or so!
Seismic activity at Santorini seems to be limited to 2 main areas. The first is directly underneath the caldera of Santorini Island and is linked to
the volcanic processes that occur there. The second is in the Kolumbo reef area of the island and again is linked to volcanic processes in that
location. It is in this second area that most seismic / volcanic activity has occured since the Thera eruption of infamy.
Hopefully that will clear things up a little bit for people. If i was adept at this new fangled technology, i would provide the necessary links.
However, as i clearly aren't im afraid you will have to make do with this explanation!