"Atlantis" Eruption Twice as Big as Previously Believed, Study Suggests

"Atlantis" Eruption Twice as Big as Previously Believed, Study Suggests

A volcanic eruption that may have inspired the myth of Atlantis was up to twice as large as previously believed, according to an international team of scientists.

The eruption occurred 3,600 years ago on the Santorini archipelago, whose largest island is Thera. Santorini is located in the Aegean Sea about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of modern-day Greece...

Writing in this week's issue of the journal Eos, a team of Greek and U.S. researchers estimate that the volcano released 14 cubic miles (60 cubic kilometers) of magma—six times more than the infamous 1883 eruption of Krakatau (Krakatoa).

Only one eruption in human history is believed to have been larger: an 1815 explosion of Tambora, in Indonesia, which released 24 cubic miles (100 cubic kilometers) of magma.

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When mother nature bites, she bites hard indeed.

[edit on 23-8-2006 by loam]

Especially when it hits a pre-technological society. Remember Pompeii?

Though these are just minor burps in the great scheme of things.