Volcanic crisis reveals coupled magma system at Santorini and Kolumbo
Volcanic crises, driven by renewed magma inflow and migration, result in surface deformation and seismicity that can provide unique insights into the structure of volcanic systems and magmatic processes. Although the highly explosive volcanoes of Santorini and Kolumbo<sup>1,2</sup> in the Greek Aegean Sea are just 7 km apart, their potentially coupled deep magmatic feeding systems are only poorly understood<sup>3,4</sup>. The 2025 volcano-tectonic crisis of Santorini simultaneously affected both volcanic centres, providing insights into a complex, multistorage feeder system. Here we integrate onshore and marine seismological data with geodetic measurements to reconstruct magma migration before and during the crisis. Gradual inflation in the Santorini caldera, beginning in mid-2024, preceded the January 2025 intrusion of a magma-filled dike sourced from a mid-crustal reservoir beneath Kolumbo, indicating a link between the two volcanoes. Joint inversion of ground and satellite-based deformation data indicates that approximately 0.31 km<sup>3</sup> of magma intruded as an approximately 13-km-long dike, reactivating principal regional faults and arresting 3-5 km below the seafloor. The 2024-2025 resurgence of magmatic activity beneath both volcanic centres and their apparent coupling provides insights into the dynamic interplay of magma storage, transport and reservoir failure beneath neighbouring volcanoes.
Authors
- Eleonora Rivalta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8245-0504)
- Paraskevi Nomikou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8842-9730)
- Jean Soubestre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9403-8821)
- Florent Brenguier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8684-7613)
- E. E. Hooft (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1606-1057)
- Torsten Dahm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6432-7422)
- Simone Cesca
- Morelia Urlaub (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1116-636X)
- Rebeckah S. Hufstetler
- Christian Berndt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5055-0180)
- Н. М. Шапиро (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0144-723X)
- Vincent Drouin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5340-0484)
- Maria Tsakiri
- D. Anastasiou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7680-7076)
- Costas Raptakis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1691-4539)
- Mahmud Haghshenas Haghighi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2512-3934)
- Jens Karstens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9434-2479)
- C. Hüebscher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7380-2344)
- Sebastian Hainzl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2875-0933)
- Marius Paul Isken (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2464-1630)
- Michelle Parks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1793-5633)
- Jannes Münchmeyer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4006-9673)
- Joachim Saul (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2381-7289)
- Gareth Crutchley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6692-0665)
- Dietrich Lange (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2654-7963)
- Thomas R. Walter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9925-4486)
- Mahdi Motagh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7434-3696)
- Jonas Preine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4481-2815)
- Heidrun Kopp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6898-1568)
- Daniel Müller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9460-9903)
- María Blanch Jover
- Quentin Higueret (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2695-3366)
- Kaisa R. Autumn
Institutions
- Leibniz University Hannover (DE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- National Technical University of Athens (GR)
- University of Potsdam (DE)
- University of Oregon (US)
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR)
- Icelandic Meteorological Office (IS)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (DE)
- Institut des Sciences de la Terre (FR)
- GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (DE)
- Université Gustave Eiffel (FR)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US)
- Université Savoie Mont Blanc (FR)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
- University of Bologna (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature
- Published
- 2025-09-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09525-7
- Citations
- 15
- Primary Topic
- earthquake and tectonic studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 27.99