Santorini
Greece · Shield volcano · 36.40, 25.40 · volcano number 212040
Nothing above background is currently reported at this system. For a volcano outside the United States and Japan that means only that it is not in the Smithsonian's weekly report, not that it is quiet.
What this system is
| Type | Shield volcano |
|---|---|
| Country | Greece |
| Position | 36.40, 25.40 |
| Largest known eruption | VEI 7, about -1610 |
| Why it is on this list | vei7 holocene |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 3 significant earthquakes and 5 significant eruptions at or within 40 km of this volcano since 46.
The deadliest was the 23 January 1926 VEI 2 eruption (Santorini, Greece), which killed 48 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 6.1, on 31 January 1866 (Greece: Thera Island (Santorini)).
Across the entries that record a death toll, 49 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 January 1926 | VEI 2 eruption | Santorini, Greece | 48 dead |
| 20 February 1866 | VEI 2 eruption | Santorini, Greece | 1 dead |
| 31 January 1866 | magnitude 6.1 earthquake | Greece: Thera Island (Santorini) | 52 homes destroyed, damage $1 to 5 million |
| May 1707 | VEI 3 eruption | Santorini, Greece | - |
| 46 | VEI 3 eruption | Santorini, Greece | - |
| 1050 | eruption | Santorini, Greece | - |
| 1672 | earthquake | Greece: Dodecanese Islands | - |
| March 1650 | earthquake | Greece: Thera Island (Santorini) | damage $1 to 5 million |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
What this rests on
The Minoan eruption of about 1600 BCE ejected some 28 to 41 km3 of dense-rock equivalent and left the flooded caldera the islands now ring.
That sentence is ours. A fuller account, with its own citations, is where to check it. It was a quotation from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program until September 2026, when their terms stopped being compatible with a site carrying advertising.
Who watches it
Institute of Geodynamics, National Observatory of Athens monitors this system and publishes its alert level. https://www.gein.noa.gr/en/
In an eruption, that observatory is the authority. This page follows it; it does not compete with it.
Other systems tracked
Where these numbers come from
National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Volcanic Eruptions Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. doi:10.7289/V5JW8BSH Licence: NOAA NCEI: access to this dataset is unrestricted (US federal work, public domain). Positions and eruption records come from that database; the sentence above is ours. Alert levels come from the publishing observatory.