ABSTRACT
Humanity has always had an ambiguous relationship with volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions can be tremendous forces of destruction, but soils produced by the weathering of volcanic rocks are very fertile in the right climate. The recently active volcanoes of Greece lie along an arc from Corinth to Nisyros, near the Turkish coast. They are produced by the melting of the Mediterranean Sea floor as it is subducted beneath the Aegean region. The most famous Greek volcano is Thera. Another volcano 15 km northeast of Thera erupted in 1650. Gas from this eruption killed animals and people on Thera. The largest volcano of this arc is Melos and its archipelago. In Italy there are recently active volcanoes around Naples, on the Aeolian islands, and in eastern Sicily. As in Greece, this volcanism is related to the subduction of the Mediterranean Sea floor. The Phlegraean fields volcanic area lies just to the west of Naples.
