VOLCANOS, TSUNAMIS AND THE DEMISE OF THE MINOANS

There is considerable evidence from archaeological sites on the Greek Islands of extensive volcanic activity. The most famous example is the eruption of the island volcano of Thera (Santorini) which buried the Minoan town of Akrotiri on Thera and may have played a significant role in the replacement of the Minoan civilization on Crete by the Myceneans. The eruption of Thera is estimated to have produced about four times the ejecta of Krakatau. In this paper we discuss how geophysical phenomena expected from eruptions like those of Thera (pyroclastic flows, Tsunamis and the breaking of non linear waves) can be simulated using the particle method SPH.