Indonesian Quakes Could Trigger Supervolcano Eruption
The 9.0 earthquake that caused the December 26th tsunami sits on the faultline that runs just off the island of Sumatra. The earth slipped along that same fault again on Monday, causing an 8.7 quake. And scientists are predicting that a third quake may strike the region soon.
Professor Ray Cas of Monash University’s School of Geosciences notes that Sumatra is the site of the world’s largest supervolcano — site of the caldera that now houses Lake Toba on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra.
On the 1st of April the professor expressed consern that the quakes could cause stresses that can hasten the eruption of the slumbering supervolcano.
Today, Sumatra island’s Mount Talang started pumping out volcanic ash, prompting the evacuation of 26,000 people. The alert status has been raised from “beware” to the top alert level.
Scientists have warned of increased seismic activity in Indonesia as the plates that make up the earth’s crust adjust following the magnitude 9 earthquake in December that triggered massive tsunami waves across the Indian Ocean.
Talang is near the Toba caldera, so concern is understandable. 75,000 years ago the Toba supervolcano erupted with a force 3,000 times greater than the 1980 Mount St. Helens erruption, possibly leading to the extinction of all human species except a small population from which emerged modern man (known as the Toba catastrophe theory).
To put things into perspective:
- Mount St. Helens explosion in 1980 lasted for nine hours and ejected about 1.2 cubic kilometers of material. Some of the ash circled the globe and stayed in the air for two weeks.
- Yellowstone Caldera blew 600,000 years ago, ejecting 1,000 k3 of material and covering half of North America in two meters of debris.
- The Toba event 75,000 years ago ejected 2,300 k3 of magma and ash over a two week period, causing the global temperature to drop as much as 10° C in a volcanic winter that lasted six years
The Toba supervolcano has a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) rating of 8, or “mega-colossal”, topping the scale (there is no 9).
Kind of puts that whole Kyoto Protocol thing into perspective, doesn’t it?
Submitted for Your Approval
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Just saw that 3 hour movie/doc about Supervolcano erupting at Yellowstone on Discovery Channel – awesome power!
Think I’ll start stocking up on some canned goods…
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Also saw the doc on yellowstone supervolcano, been researching on internet to see when it could happen, say on internet that has been
600,000 years already before errupted, so SPOOKY!
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Toba pumped out over 3000 sq kilometers (1860 sq miles)of ash and various other lava bombs. Geologists now say it occurred 76,500 years ago. Furthermore it lowered Earth’s temperature by over 10 degree Kelvin, not centigrade. The resulting massive ice sheets that covered over existing ice sheets that were miles thick didn’t really start melting until about 12,000 BC and the process continues to this day. If Toba goes again we’re all screwed. The only survivors will be in basin areas at or below sea level near the equator. Maybe it’s time to conquer Mexico and the rest of Central America so our survivors will have a place to live. I’ve long advocated taking Canada, but they will be screwed with no survivors if they don’t run right away.
Seriously though, the genticist/anthropologist Spencer Wells, discovered through DNA that the human race was nearly completely wiped out by the sulfides from Toba. Homo Erectus and Ergaster were killed off and we were reduced down to only three or four thousand people living in the Kalahari basin in Botswana. Neanderthal who were an ice people to start with made a rousing comeback finally dying off around 13,000 BC on a mountain in the Spanish Pyrenees. Personally if it blows again, I’m immediately heading for the small lowlands of Ecuador. Nice site.