Santorini volcano is one of the most famous volcanoes in the world as the site of numerous large-volume explosive eruptions over the last 600,000 years, including the 3600 Ybp eruption thought to have severely impacted the Minoan civilization in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. However, Santorini is only one volcano in the tectonically active southern Aegean Sea. Many other volcanic centers are submarine and only partially explored, despite one of the sites, Kolumbo, erupted explosively in 1650 AD causing damage and fatalities on the island of Thera.
In 2006 two cruises aboard the R/V Aegaeo and the R/V Endeavor focused on exploring submarine deposits from the Minoan eruption of Santorini and preliminary investigation of Kolumbo submarine volcano.
An important discovery of the R/V Endeavor cruise was an active Kuroko-style hydrothermal vent field in the crater of Kolumbo volcano at 500m depth. Hydrothermal venting at Kolumbo was significantly more robust than anything found within the Santorini caldera. Expedition NA007 focused on further investigation of the underwater component of the Santorini volcanic line to better understand the nature and extent of submarine volcanism and hydrothermal circulation northeast of the main volcanic island, Santorini.
