Machine learning detects more than 60,000 earthquakes during 2025 Santorini sequence

Phys · Apr 17, 2026 · 731 words · By Seismological Society

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What to know about Machine learning detects more than 60,000 earthquakes during 2025 Santorini sequence

Researchers from Stanford University and other institutions used machine learning to identify over 60,000 earthquakes during a 2025 seismic sequence in Santorini. The study suggests the activity was caused by magma intrusion and highlights the potential for real-time machine learning applications in monitoring volcanic crises.

Propaganda risk 0%

Claims checked 12

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Machine learning detects more than 60,000 earthquakes during 2025 Santorini sequence Sadie Harley Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor The seismic crisis that gripped the Greek island of Santorini and its neighbors in 2025 contained more than 60,000…

Why it matters

At the 2026 SSA Annual Meeting, Stanford University Ph.D.

Common ground

student Xing Tan described how he and his colleagues monitored the remarkable sequence as it unfolded, using the resulting high-resolution earthquake catalog to define a network of faults in the region and to follow the rapid migration of seismicity.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Machine learning detects more than 60,000 earthquakes during 2025 Santorini sequence?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that The approach identified six times more earthquakes for the first 30 days of the sequence compared to the number identified by traditional regional seismic monitoring?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-04-machine-earthquakes-santorini-sequence.html

analyticsAnalysis

Propaganda Score

confidence: 100%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 12 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 4

check_circle Corroborated 3

schedule Pending 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

cancel Disputed 1

info

Claim 1: “The approach identified six times more earthquakes for the first 30 days of the sequence compared to the number identified by traditional regional seismic monitoring”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided web search results for this claim are generic definitions of machine learning and machine design and do not mention the Santorini seismic sequence or the 'six times more' figure.

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web search NEUTRAL — Identify the location(s) in the machine component where the internal load(s) is/are extreme. The location(s) identified are the machine component’s critical cross-section(s).
https://www.purdue.edu/freeform/me354/wp-content/uploads/sit…

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web search NEUTRAL — It uses these concepts to derive four central machine learning methods: linear regression, principal component analysis, Gaussian mixture models and support vector machines. For students and others wi…
https://mml-book.github.io/book/mml-book.pdf

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web search NEUTRAL — Instead of arbitrary real numbers we only have finitely many machine numbers available. Arithmetic operations like z=x+y or s=sqrt(x) are not performed exactly, but give a result which is again a mach…
https://math.umd.edu/~petersd/460/machinenumbers.pdf

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Claim 2: “The researchers uncovered a network of northeast-southwest-trending faults extending from northeast of Santorini to the southwest of the island Amorgos, passing beneath Anydros Island”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm seismic activity concentrated between Santorini and Amorgos, specifically mentioning the Anydro Basin/Island and the northeast-southwest orientation of the activity.

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web search NEUTRAL — Seismic activity continued off Santorini and Amorgos islands on Saturday, with several earthquakes recorded between 4.0 and 4.9 Richter.
https://greekreporter.com/2025/02/08/santorini-earthquakes-c…

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web search NEUTRAL — The intense seismic activity of recent days is concentrated northeast of Santorini, near the Kolumbo volcano.Seismologists emphasize that the seismic activity is tectonic, originating from the faults …
https://en.protothema.gr/2025/02/02/earthquakes-new-tremors-…

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web search NEUTRAL — A fault just off Anydros is the source of a devastating 7.6 on the Richter scale earthquake in 1956 that nearly leveled Santorini, to the southwest.
https://www.tovima.com/society/anydros-the-quake-battered-ro…

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Claim 3: “The seismic crisis that gripped the Greek island of Santorini and its neighbors in 2025 contained more than 60,000 earthquakes”

DISPUTED

One web search result explicitly states that a machine learning study identified more than 60,000 earthquakes, while another web search result ('What’s Shaking Santorini?') states that more than 28,000 earthquakes were recorded during the crisis.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Santorini, officially Thira or Thera, is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Santorini International Airport (Greek: Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Σαντορίνης) (IATA: JTR, ICAO: LGSR) is an airport in Santorini, Greece, located north of the village of Kamari. The airport serves as both a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini_International_Airpor…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Santorini caldera is a large, mostly submerged caldera, located in the southern Aegean Sea, 120 kilometers north of Crete in Greece. Visible above water is the circular Santorini island group, consist…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini_caldera

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 4: “seismic migration sped along the fault zones at speeds of up to 2 kilometers per hour”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim regarding seismic migration speeds of 2 km/h is mentioned in one web search result but not corroborated by others.

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web search NEUTRAL — Seismic helps financial services organizations reduce administrative burden, ensure regulatory alignment, and increase revenue per advisor — while delivering personalized experiences that deepen long-…
https://www.seismic.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — May 9, 2026 · The meaning of SEISMIC is of, subject to, or caused by an earthquake; also : of or relating to an earth vibration caused by something else (such as an explosion or the impact of a meteor…
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seismic

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web search NEUTRAL — SEISMIC definition: 1. relating to or caused by an earthquake: 2. having very great and usually damaging effects: 3…. Learn more.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/seismic

schedule

Claim 5: “in 1956, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake sequence in Amorgos and Santorini led to a major tsunami in the Aegean Sea”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 6: “the volcano system in the Greek islands typically produces cooler, more silica-rich magma, which is more viscous and explosive”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this claim.

info

Claim 7: “The research team identified 46 recurring seismicity bursts of hundreds of earthquakes occurring within one to two hours”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific detail about '46 recurring seismicity bursts' is mentioned in one web search result but is not corroborated by other independent sources in the provided evidence.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 46 may refer to: 46 (number), the natural number following 45 and preceding 47 One of the years 46 BC, AD 46, 1946, 2046 46, a 1983 album by Kino "Forty Six", a song by Karma to Burn from the album …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/46

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 46,XX/46,XY is either a chimeric or mosaic genetic condition characterized by the presence of some cells that express a 46,XX karyotype and some cells that express a 46,XY karyotype in a single human …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/46,XX/46,XY

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Survivor 46 is the forty-sixth season of the American competitive reality television series Survivor. It premiered on February 28, 2024, on CBS in the United States, and was the fourteenth consecutive…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_46

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 8: “At the 2026 SSA Annual Meeting, Stanford University Ph.D. student Xing Tan described how he and his colleagues monitored the remarkable sequence”

CORROBORATED

Two separate web search results (one a PDF summary and one a general search result) confirm that Stanford Ph.D. student Xing Tan presented this research at the 2026 SSA Annual Meeting.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Filial piety has been an important aspect of Buddhist ethics since early Buddhism, and was essential in the apologetics and texts of Chinese Buddhism. In the Early Buddhist Texts such as the Nikāyas a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety_in_Buddhism

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In Taoism, the concept of a true form (Chinese: 真形 / 眞形; pinyin: Zhēn xíng) is a metaphysical theory which posits that there are immutable essences of things — that is, images of the eternal Dao witho…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_form_(Taoism)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Xing Wen, or Wen Xing (Chinese: 邢文; pinyin: Xíng Wén; Wade–Giles: Wen Hsing; born 1965) is a Chinese scholar and researcher in Chinese art, archaeology, and classical Chinese studies. He is Robert 193…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xing_Wen

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 9: “The seismic sequence began at the southwestern end of the system and propagated northeastward”

SINGLE SOURCE

While the general location of the sequence is corroborated, the specific detail that it 'began at the southwestern end and propagated northeastward' is only found in one source.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Santorini is the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc.The earthquakes began to decline in intensity and number after mid-February, and the seismic crisis ended in late February…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The seismic crisis that gripped the Greek island of Santorini and its neighbors in 2025 contained more than 60,000 earthquakes, according to a unique machine learning study that identified the earthqu…
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-machine-earthquakes-santorini-…

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web search NEUTRAL — In this study, a detailed seismic catalog is presented, generated for operational monitoring using machine-learning-based phase picking and high-precision relocation methods. By late summer 2024, seis…
https://seismica.library.mcgill.ca/article/view/1663

help

Claim 10: “a research team led by Marius Isken of GFZ Potsdam shared the results of their study that suggests the Santorini and Kolumbo volcanoes might share a deep magma plumbing system”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this claim.

schedule

Claim 11: “the one that destroyed the Minoan civilization about 3600 years ago”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 12: “identified the earthquakes as they occurred between December 2024 and June 2025”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm the timeframe of the seismic crisis as occurring between December 2024 and June 2025.

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+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.