A scientific team from the German Institute of Geophysics at the University of Hamburg’s Center for Earth Systems and Sustainability Research, has discovered off Santorini the evidence of the largest known volcanic landslide in the entire Mediterranean. The landslide which occurred around 700,000 years ago had a volume of up to 125 cubic kilometres.

Such massive landslides occur when the build-up of eruption material on the flanks of a volcano becomes unstable and slides into the sea, usually generating a megatsunami. These tsunamis can have extremely large initial wave heights ranging from hundreds and possibly up to thousands of metres, far beyond the height of any ordinary tsunami. These giant wave heights occur because the water is thrown upwards and outwards by the displacement of the sea caused by the entry of the flank.

This catastrophic event would have devastated shorelines and low inland areas around the entire Mediterranean.

This adds to Santroini’s reputation for creating momentous natural cataclysmic events, the most recent being the explosion of the volcano in the 16th century B.C., which is seen as a major contributing factor in the demise of the Minoan civilisation.