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Fire in the Sea: The Santorini Volcano: Natural History and the Legend of Atlantis
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About Fire In The Sea: The Santorini Volcano: Natural
Product Description The legend of the lost city of Atlantis has captivated the human imagination for centuries. Did this city actually exist, and, if so, what happened to it? Was it destroyed in the greatest cataclysmic event of the Bronze Age? While the truth behind the legend of Atlantis may never be known, Fire in the Sea tells the story of one of the largest and most devastating natural disasters of classical history that may also hold vital clues to the possible existence and fate of the lost city. In vivid prose, author Walter L. Friedrich describes the eruption of the Greek island of Santorini, or Thera, sometime in the 17th or 16th century BC. This eruption, perhaps one of the largest explosions ever witnessed by humankind, sent a giant cloud of volcanic ash into the air that eventually covered settlements on the island. Friedrich relates how this event forever altered the course of civilization in the region, and inspired a mystery that has fired humanity's imagination ever since. More than 160 elegant, full-color photographs and vivid prose capture the beauty, the geology, archaeology, history, peoples and environmental setting of Santorini. Fire in the Sea will readily appeal to the general reader interested in natural catastrophies as well as the beauty of the region. It will also enchant anyone who has ever dreamt about uncovering the mystery of the legend of Atlantis. Walter Friedrich is currently an associate professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark. He has visited Santorini at least 35 times since 1975 and has published numerous scientific articles in such international journals as Nature, Lethaia, Spektrum der Wissenschaft, and other publications. From Booklist Site of one of the most intensely studied volcanoes, Santorini in the Aegean Sea supported the thriving Minoan civilization until a titanic eruption about 3,600 years ago. Now Santorini attracts a seasonal influx of tourists to appreciate the spectacular volcano, a semicircular caldera rising hundreds of meters above the sea, which the wealth of photographs in Friedrich's survey, though intended to help explain Santorini's stratigraphy, shows off handsomely. The basic explanation of the volcano is simple: it resulted from an upwelling of magma from the subduction of the African plate beneath the Eurasian plate. Its surface expression is a layer cake of deposits, which is to be expected from a place that blows up every few millennia. The heart of the text describes how the rocks of Santorini were dated and a sequence of eruptions established. In the course of geological fieldwork, the relics of a buried civilization have come to light. Friedrich capably summarizes that archaeological discovery, complete with the notion that the Minoan civilization inspired Plato's reference to Atlantis Gilbert Taylor Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Review "Friedrich capably summarizes that archaeological discovery, complete with the notion that the Ninoan civilization inspired Plato's reference to Atlantis." Booklist "...a welcome addition to studies of the Cycladic island of Santorini. Walter L. Friedrich's many years of geological research are synthesized in a well-illustrated mongraph...Refreshingly, Friedrich has no academic axes to grind; his aim throughout is to provide information basic to understanding a pivotal natural event in the prehistoric Aegean." Historian "...Santorini exploded in 1600 BC producing one of the largest explosions ever witnessed by humans. The story of why it blew--and the consequences--is superbly detailed and illustrated in Friedrich's book." Focus Magazine "Where the book really excels is that all facets seem to have been treated with comparable, if not equal, authority...The book has excellent photographs and clear diagrams in a large format but it is no mere coffee-table publication. The science is clear and thorough but not condescending and the author conv
