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Greek authorities have closed school and deployed emergency crews as a cloud of earthquakes intensifies near the volcanic island of Santorini . scientist are n’t wait Santorini or other volcanoes in the region to belch , but they warn more powerful earthquakes could be coming .
masses on Santorini beganfeeling earth tremor last weekas a cluster of underwater earthquakes broke out beneath the Mediterranean ’s Aegean Sea . These small earthquakes — mostly magnitude 3.5 or less — continued to intensify on Monday ( Feb. 3 ) .
The earthquake swarm shaking the island of Santorini is intensifying.
The large earthquake so far was a magnitude 5 , which struck 21 miles ( 34 kilometers ) northeast of Santorini at 2:27 p.m. local time ( 7.27 a.m. EST ) , accord to the University of Athens’earthquake tracking web site .
The Greek authorities have reply to the earthquakes by ordering precautionary amount on Santorini and nearby islands , all of which are democratic holidaymaker destinations , theAssociated Press reported .
Santorini sit on the expose part of a largely underwater vent send for the Santorini caldera . However , researchers trust the earthquakes there are ride by the movement of plates , orplate tectonics , rather than volcanic activity .
David Pyle , a prof of Earth skill at the University of Oxford who has studied volcanos in the Santorini caldera , say Live Science that the earthquakes by Santorini are likely because of a serial publication of fault — or zones where two blocks of rock move or slip against each other . However , he noted that the earthquakes were " unusual . "
" The problem with this event is that we ’ve just seen earthquake after earthquake after temblor , " Pyle said . " It ’s all underwater , and so it ’s really operose to expect what ’s going to bump next . "
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The Aegean Sea sit on a humble scale of crust , which is stretching as the nearby African plate slide beneath the Eurasiatic plate . Pyle note that stretching in the Aegean ’s crust creates stresses that move the faults driving the quake .
This is n’t the first metre Santorini has experience a serial publication of small , concentrated earthquakes , know as an earthquake swarm . Magma moving beneath Santorinitriggered a swarmaround the island in 2011 and 2012 , but that event was less grievous than the on-going swarm , which is nor'-east of the island .
" The area that is being affect is a small larger [ than in 2011 and 2012 , ] the rate at which the detect earthquakes are occurring is also larger , and the focal point of the events is outside the Santorini caldera , " Pyle allege .
Kolumbo volcano
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Most of the earthquakes have occur between another submersed volcano , Kolumbo , which is approximately 4.4 Roman mile ( 7 klick ) northeast of Santorini , and the small island of Anydros . While plate tectonics come out to be driving the earthquakes this prison term , Pyle note that researchers are unsure whether there ’s a lineal link between the architectonic natural action and any potential volcanic action at Kolumbo .
" We actually do n’t really know much about the mysterious systems supplying magma to the volcanos , " Pyle pronounce .
Kolumbo volcano lasterupted in 1650 , activate a catastrophic tsunami that devastate islands in the area . Santorini was shaped by the earlier Minoan eruption in 1600 B.C. , which was one of the large volcanic eruptions in human story , grant to Columbia University’sLamont - Doherty Earth Observatoryin New York .
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