Greek inflation circa 1600 BC

Abstract

A petrology study of the Bronze Age 'Minoan' eruption on the Greek island of Santorini finds that the sub-volcanic magma reservoir was recharged in spurts during the decades to months that preceded the eruption. See Letter p.77 Timothy Druitt and co-authors have studied pre-eruptive magmatic processes and their timescales using chemically zoned crystals from the late-1600s BC 'Minoan' caldera-forming eruption on the island of Santorini, Greece. Despite the large volume of erupted magma and the 18,000-year gestation period between the Minoan and the previous major eruption, recharge of the magma reservoir seems to have occurred during the century before eruption, and mixing between different magma batches was still taking place during the final months. These observations have implications for monitoring strategies at long-dormant but potentially active caldera systems, such as Long Valley in California, Yellowstone in Wyoming and Campi Flegrei in Italy.