Two Restless Calderas: Santorini and Long Valley: 1-23-2012

It is very easy to be distracted by Yellowstone as the only caldera in town, but there are plenty of other caldera systems worldwide — many of which have been much more active in geologically recent times (last 10,000 years) than Yellowstone. Two of these “restless calderas” include Santorini in the Aegean Sea off of Greece and Long Valley in eastern California. Both have had massive eruptions — the most famous being the ~1600 B.C. Minoan eruption of Santorini (technically, the island is Santorini and the volcano is Thera) and the Bishop Tuff eruption of Long Valley ~760,000 years ago. They have also both seen eruptions since the “big one” — Santorini as recently as 1950 and Long Valley in ~1350 (as part of the Mono-Inyo Crater chain).

I’ve gotten a number of e-mails lately about people noticing seismicity under these calderas, so I thought I’d take a quick peak at the action at both.

rik Klemetti Email Author
January 23, 2012 |
8:49 am |
Categories: Eruptions, Science Blogs

It is very easy to be distracted by Yellowstone as the only caldera in town, but there are plenty of other caldera systems worldwide — many of which have been much more active in geologically recent times (last 10,000 years) than Yellowstone. Two of these “restless calderas” include Santorini in the Aegean Sea off of Greece and Long Valley in eastern California. Both have had massive eruptions — the most famous being the ~1600 B.C. Minoan eruption of Santorini (technically, the island is Santorini and the volcano is Thera) and the Bishop Tuff eruption of Long Valley ~760,000 years ago. They have also both seen eruptions since the “big one” — Santorini as recently as 1950 and Long Valley in ~1350 (as part of the Mono-Inyo Crater chain).

I’ve gotten a number of e-mails lately about people noticing seismicity under these calderas, so I thought I’d take a quick peak at the action at both.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/two-restless-calderas-santorini-and-long-valley/