The South Aegean volcanic arc lies at the intersection between Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the cradle of European civilization. Studies over the last decade have transformed our understanding of the arc: subduction architecture and back-arc geodynamics, genesis of the arc magmas, eruption chronology of the arc recorded in marine tephra archives, and hazards posed by eruptions and tsunamis. Santorini is one of the most explosive arc volcanoes in the world, and its ‘Minoan’ eruption of the Late Bronze Age is an iconic event in volcanology and archaeology. Santorini is still dangerous. The Kolumbo submarine crater, best known for its deadly eruption of 1650, today hosts a hydrothermal system and bacterial colonies. In the eastern sector of the arc lies the large submarine caldera formed by the Kos Plateau Tuff eruption. The eruptive mechanisms and petrology of this eruption have now been unraveled, as have the eruptive and magmatic histories of Nisyros and Yali volcanoes on the caldera rim.
