Rising sea levels could reduce risk of volcanic eruptions, say researchers

Scientists have studied sea level changes and the timings of eruptions on the Greek island of Santorini over hundreds of thousands of years.
The cliffs of the volcanic island of Santorini, which show the layers of deposits from past volcanic eruptions (Dr Ralf Gertisser/Keele University/PA)
Ben Mitchell3 August 2021

Rising sea levels caused by global warming could reduce the risk of eruptions on volcanic islands and coastal areas, according to research.

Researchers from the universities of Portsmouth and Oxford Brookes examined the timings of eruptions over hundreds of thousands of years on the Greek island of Santorini in relation to sea level changes.

They found that a 130ft fall in sea level was a “critical point” beyond which eruptions were more likely to occur.

The findings of the study, published in Nature Geoscience, have important implications for millions of people living on volcanic islands as climate change affects sea levels globally, they said.

If our findings could be confirmed by studies on other volcanic locations, continuing sea level rise would lower the risk of future volcanic eruptions at islands and coastal areas

Dr Sabine Wulf, University of Portsmouth

Dr Mark Hardiman, of the University of Portsmouth said: “With continuing global warming, we need to urgently understand the relationships between the effects of climate change and the risk of natural hazard events.

“One such hazard is volcanic eruptions on small islands and in coastal areas that are already strongly impacted by the consequences of rising sea level and increasing storm activity.”

Dr Christopher Satow, of Oxford Brookes University, said they examined layers of volcanic rock on the cliff face encircling the inner part of Santorini to gauge volcanic activity over the centuries.

Explaining the relationship between sea levels and eruptions, Dr Satow said: “The mechanism is quite simple: falling sea levels remove mass from the Earth’s crust and the crust fractures as a result. These fractures allow magma to rise and feed eruptions at the surface.”

Co-author Dr Sabine Wulf, of the University of Portsmouth, said: “If our findings could be confirmed by studies on other volcanic locations around the world, continuing sea level rise would lower the risk of future volcanic eruptions at islands and coastal areas.

“This indeed would be good news not only for the population of Santorini, but also for other volcanic high-risk areas in the Mediterranean such as the densely populated Naples area in southern Italy.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in