Wednesday 16 November 2011

Earthquake activity around Santorini

Seismic activity beneath Santorini volcano continues to be slightly above normal levels. Beginning since July this year, there is elevated activity in a SW-NE trending zone passing through Nea Kameni and the submarine Kolumbos volcano NE of Santorini. The alignment (also known as the Kameni and Kolumbus lines) is a c. 2 km wide zone parallel to a tectonic horst and graben structure of the crystalline basement of the area. Most of the known volcanic vents of Santorini during the past 2 million years were located on this alignment, more precisely either on its southern boundary (Kameni line) or on its northern boundary (Kolumbus line). Lacking other data sources, the information visible on the location and number of earthquakes is too weak, other than to vaguely speculate that the current earthquake activity around Santorini could be a precursor to new activity from this volcano. Santorini's last eruption was in 1950.
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