Towards reconstruction of the lost Late Bronze Age intra-caldera island of Santorini, Greece

Dávid Karátson,Tamás Telbisz,Xavier Quidelleur,Szabolcs Kósik,Paraskevi Nomikou,Timothy Druitt,Ralf Gertisser,Viktor Vereb

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-25301-2

Abstract

During the Late Bronze Age, the island of Santorini had a semi-closed caldera harbour inherited from the 22 ka Cape Riva Plinian eruption, and a central island referred to as ‘Pre-Kameni’ after the present-day Kameni Islands. Here, the size and age of the intracaldera island prior to the Late Bronze Age (Minoan) eruption are constrained using a photo-statistical method, complemented by granulometry and high-precision K-Ar dating. Furthermore, the topography of Late Bronze Age Santorini is reconstructed by creating a new digital elevation model (DEM). Pre-Kameni and other parts of Santorini were destroyed during the 3.6 ka Minoan eruption, and their fragments were incorporated as lithic clasts in the Minoan pyroclastic deposits. Photo-statistical analysis and granulometry of these lithics, differentiated by lithology, constrain the volume of Pre-Kameni to 2.2–2.5 km3. Applying the Cassignol-Gillot K-Ar dating technique to the most characteristic black glassy andesite lithics, we propose that the island started to grow at 20.2 ± 1.0 ka soon after the Cape Riva eruption. This implies a minimum long-term lava extrusion rate of ~0.13–0.14 km3/ky during the growth of Pre-Kameni.

Highlights

The Late Bronze Age (Minoan) eruption of Santorini (Greece), radiocarbon dated at 1627–1600 BC1, was one of the largest eruptions in the Holocene[2] (Fig. 1)
By applying a photo-statistical analysis of outcrops complemented by granulometric analysis, we present quantitative results for the volume of the lithic clasts included in the Minoan deposits and, after proportioning their amount, determine the dimensions of the destroyed Pre-Kameni island
The Minoan deposits contain a diverse range of juvenile components as well as lithic clasts derived from older parts of Santorini[10,13]

Summary

Introduction

The Late Bronze Age (Minoan) eruption of Santorini (Greece), radiocarbon dated at 1627–1600 BC1, was one of the largest eruptions in the Holocene[2] (Fig. 1). The presence of abundant lithics, especially clasts of a chemically distinctive black glassy andesite, in the pyroclastic deposits of the Minoan eruption (see below) suggested that the central part of the caldera bay was occupied by an intracaldera island[10,14,15,16].

Results

Conclusion