Volume and extent of the Minoan tephra from Santorini Volcano: new evidence from deep-sea sediment cores

The Minoan Santorini Eruption and Tsunami Deposits in Palaikastro (Crete): Dating by Geology, Archaeology, 14C, and Egyptian Chronology

“…Excavations at the archaeological sites (Figure 1) of Mochlos (Soles and Davaras 1990) and Palaikastro (MacGillivray et al 1991, 1998 revealed volcanic ash in archaeological stratigraphic context. The spatial extent and thickness of the Minoan Santorini volcanic ash layer in Mediterranean deep-sea sediments indicate that eastern Crete was covered by an estimated 5 cm of volcanic tephra (Thorarinsson 1978;Watkins et al 1978;McCoy 1980). Volcanic ash particles originating from the Minoan Santorini eruption have been found in soils of eastern Crete in a dispersed state and not as a discrete layer (Vitaliano and Vitaliano 1974;Betancourt et al 1990).…”

Geoarchaeological tsunami deposits at Palaikastro (Crete) and the Late Minoan IA eruption of Santorini

“…The fall-out of volcanic ash over eastern Crete during the Santorini eruption was estimated to have been about 5 cm thick, according to geographic extrapolation of volcanic ash data, mainly from deep-sea sediments (Watkins et al, 1978;Thorarinsson, 1978;McCoy, 1980). Such a thin layer will not easily remain preserved in the open landscape, as volcanic ash is susceptible to wind and water erosion, particularly in arid and semi-arid hilly regions (Inbar et al, 1995).…”

Stratigraphy, age, composition, and correlation of late Quaternary tephras interbedded with organic sediments in Waikato lakes, North Island, New Zealand

“…Rai (in Borchardt et al 1973) estimated from bulk density comparisons that onland tephras are about 1.75 times as thick as equivalent bog or lacustrine tephras. S imilarl y, Watkins et al (1978) and Sparks etal. (1983) converted submarine tephra thicknesses to equivalent dry-land (original) thicknesses by correcting for the effects of compaction and bioturbation.…”