Volcanic Vibe
"I've learned that two of the world's largest volcanic eruptions ever recorded took place in Indonesia."
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| Magnificent reflections... scenery of volcanic peaks. |
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Now the world is learning that a massive super volcanic eruption that truly changed the earth and human destiny did also take place in this country. It's never been wrong to describe Indonesia as a "Ring of Fire", considering that there are currently over 100 active volcanic peaks.
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| Jaya Wijaya in Papua, the highest tropical peak. Photo by Victoria Wenas |
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| Active volcanic peaks provide farmers perfect soil. Photo by Djuna Ivereigh |
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The first such major event was the massive Tambora eruption in 1815, which spewed out roughly as much land as the whole volume of Singapore into the sky, causing major damage and taking hundreds of thousands of lives, and devastating major crops within the distance of hundred kilometers.
In Europe, the sky was covered with a thick, dark cloud the whole year after, which they described as "the year without summer". That phenomenon didn't stop Napoleon Bonaparte on his campaign, but he got his army stuck under a heavy mud flood during a significant battle such that it practically ended the dictator's mission to unify Europe.
So severe was the volcanic explosion that Thomas Stamford Raffles, British governor for the East Indies stationed in Jakarta, heard the bang and thought that a military headquarters or an arsenal east of the capital might have been attacked. In fact, the volcano was over 1,500 miles to the east of Jakarta. Uniquely, the British Empire had to give up their hegemony in the archipelago and returned it to the Netherlands following Napoleon's defeat, as a new map of Europe was soon drawn.
Seventy years later, the Krakatoa underwater peak in the Sunda Straits between Java and Sumatra erupted, causing the world's largest recorded tsunami. The material sent into the sky was only one-tenth as much as Tambora, but given that its peak was positioned underwater such an explosion was definitely catastrophic. The Dutch colonial government reported that a wave as high as 30 meters swept away whatever was in its path, primarily the seaside villages of Java, Sumatra and the surrounding islands.
So huge was the tidal wave that its affecting current traveled for weeks and was even felt in southern Europe and Eastern Africa.
But in recent years various studies have confirmed that a super volcanic eruption that can only be imagined by humans once occurred on the island of Sumatra. So enormous was the impact that it not only triggered massive environmental changes, but it also killed off several primitive species, including what scientists believe were semi-human species, the hominid bridging current humans with their primate predecessors.
The Toba Theory, as the phenomenon is known among scientists, suggests that some 70 or 75 thousand years ago a massive eruption sent over 5,000 cubic kilometers of ash, stone and lava into the sky from what is now Lake Toba in central Sumatra. So powerful was the eruption that some of the debris, partly helped by the earth's rotation, fell as far away as Greenland and South America, definitely on the other side of the world from the volcano site.
What was left over was the huge 1,700 square kilometer area now known as the current Lake Toba. The current Samosir Island, with its active volcano right in the middle of the lake, is believed to be the "young" peak rising from ground zero.
Certainly the aftermath was even more staggering. The earth's temperature dropped significantly enough so that several types of flora and fauna vanished forever. A population bottleneck. Unfortunately, among them were believed to be a human-type ape. Modern DNA studies suggest that the 5 billion people of today originated from a number of not more than 1,000 individuals, most likely the survivors of this catastrophic eruption.
Interestingly, the island of Sumatra also is home to Orang Pendek, or short men. Over the past 100 years their existence as the "missing link hominid" has been observed by many locals as well as Western scientists and enthusiasts in the remote jungles of the northern mountainous part of Sumatra.
Those three supervolcanic phenomena are among the primary reasons for naming it the "Ring of Fire." The appellation refers to the fact that Indonesia is home to the world's longest chain of volcanic peaks, of which over 100 are active. The chain begins in the Hawaiian Islands and runs through Japan and the Philippines, before entering the Sangihe Islands, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Bali, Java, Sumatra, and ending in the Indian Ocean.
Often when one of these volcanic peaks erupt, a chain reaction follows in the neighboring peaks. This was true when Mt. Merapi erupted a few months ago, triggering other volcanic activities such as in Mt. Ijen, Bromo and Semeru.
Indonesia also is home to the highest tropical peak, Mount Jaya Wijaya (5,030 meters or 16,500 feet, the highest in Southeast Asia after Mount Hkakobo Razi in Myanmar). So tall is this peak that it is the only tropical mountain covered all year round by glaciers.
Given so many staggering facts, many scientific findings will likely be excavated in the future, including speculation on the Orang Pendek and scientific discoveries behind the Toba Theory. In October 2004, scientists claimed the discovery of skeletal remains of a new species of human (Homo floresiensis) in caves on Flores Island, Nusa Tenggara, dating back some 12,000 years ago. They describe this new species as orang pendek, roughly about 100 centimeters in height.
By Supardi Asmorobangun |
