How a Massive Volcano & Tsunami Destroyed an Empire: The Minoan Eruption

#minoan #santorini #santoriniisland #santorinigreece #volcano #volcanoisland #volcanoevent #volcanic #volcanicisland #volcanicash #volcaniceruptions #volcaniceruption #supervolcano #tsunami #megatsunami #catastrophe #catastrophes #catastrophy #disaster #disasters #earthquake #landslide #caldera #calderas #volcanology #earthscience #earthsciences The Minoan eruption was one of the largest volcanic eruptions to have occurred in human history. It's also one of the few that have spawned a mega tsunami during a mid eruption caldera collapse. This 150 meter high mega tsunami would go on the devestate the island of Crete, destroying the ancient city of Knossos, and causing untold damage the Bronze Age civilization that we know as the Minoans. The Santorini island (Also known as Thera Island) Volcanic system is over 2 million years old. It looks to have been largely an effusive type of volcano, until roughly 200 thousand years ago when it began a violent and explosive cycle of mountain building, erupting, and collapsing into it's emptying magma chamber, forming a caldera collapse, which spawns unbelievably large volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, lahars, and releases a tremendous amount of volcanic ash, pumice, and volcanic bombs in all directions, along with unbelievably large scale pyroclastic flows. The Minoan Eruption is thought to be responsible for the eventual downfall of the Minoan civilization, which occurred around 1450 B.C. when the invading Mycenaean Greeks conquered the island, most likely due to the weakened state the Minoan Empire was in following this Volcanic eruption and large scale earthquakes which destroyed cities and palaces. The Thera Island volcanic eruption would bury the nearby Minoan Settlement located on the very same island under 70 meters worth of Pumice, and it would remain forgotten about, similar to Pompeii, until it was finally rediscovered in the mid 1960s. This volcanic eruption was one of the rare cases and examples of mega tsunamis spawned from Volcanic eruptions. In present day, the island is very populated but it's still very volcanically active, and this cycle of caldera scale eruptions is almost certainly due to occur once more. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you wish to be in the loop for more content such as this, each like, share and subscription helps the channel immensely. But either way there will be new videos covering a whole range of topics so I hope you will be there to join in the fun on this epic journey! 🎥 If you would like to support this channel, consider joining our Patreon:   / ozgeology   👉 You can also click the "join" button to join our Youtube channel's membership. Every contribution helps to create more videos. 🌋 Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxLr... 💥Link To Our Facebook:   / ozgeology   🌏 About OzGeology OzGeology is an Australian-based YouTube channel that specializes in creating high-quality documentaries on Earth sciences and natural disasters. The content is designed to be easy to digest and covers a wide range of topics, not only focusing on geology but occasionally exploring other scientific areas as well.