The Terra-ble Monsters of Indonesia
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| Image 1. Vulcan, Roman God of Fire. The inspiration for the name "Volcano" |
On the April of 2006, back when I was living in Indonesia (my home country), as a child, I recall sitting in my parents’ room watching the news often. It was less out of interest, but rather more due to the fact that my dad loved to watch the news whenever he is working or simply just relaxing. My dad was working away on his laptop in my peripheral vision as I stared in awe at the television; it was tuned to the local CNN channel, and the anchorman was presenting the news on the recent volcanic eruption that occurred in Central Java. The mountain’s name was Gunung Merapi, in English, it literally translates to Fire Mountain. I watched the constantly repeating 20 second footage of the eruption over and over again. The volcano is still active to this day and it has been regularly erupting since 1548. It’s most recent eruption was on 25th of October 2010 (Volcanic Discovery).
Video 1. Gunung Merapi Eruption
When the TV was turned off by my mother, suggesting that I should go to bed, I became curious about volcanoes, I wanted to know more! What was the science behind volcanoes and its eruptions? The Earth throwing a tantrum seemed to be a pretty good hypothesis back then. I questioned the new genius who just moved into my house, his name was Google. It turns out, as he told me, that volcanoes are formed due to the convergence and divergence of Earth’s tectonic plates, or the natural manipulation of Earth’s crust (National Geographic). They create a fracture on the planet’s surface that allow the escape of lava and gasses from the magma chambers located below the Earth’s surface. Volcanoes can be classified by its lava composition or lava texture. They are also classified by its frequency of eruption; in familiar terms, active or dormant. Eruptions occur when gas is released during the compression (phreatomagmatic eruptions), decompression (magmatic eruption), or superheating (phreatic eruption) of gases within the magma (National Geographic).
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| Image 2. Diagram of Volcanic Formation |
Video 2. National Geographic's explanation of volcanic formation
This raised more questions for me. Although slightly more trivial, I wanted to know specifically, the world’s largest volcanic eruption. What was it? Where was it? WHY was it? So what I did was, again, question the omniscient Google, whom I personified in my mind as a young professor with huge round glasses, attire: Business casual. I found out that the largest ever volcanic eruption was located in INDONESIA! (So proud) It occurred in April 10, 1815. Mount Tambora, located in Sumbawa, my father’s birthplace, erupted with a magnitude of 7 on the VEI, the second highest rating on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (Our Amazing Planet). Even citizens 1,930 km away heard the explosion. That’s the length of 17,600 football fields. The death toll was approximately 71,000 people. Although about 11,500 people died of the direct eruption, the majority of the deaths were due to the ashes spoiling agricultural productivity and causing disease (Volcano Discovery). The effects of the ashes and the spewed sulfur dioxide did not simply stop at Indonesia, far from it in fact. Because of Tambora’s eruption, 1816 was known as the “Year without a Summer”. The average global temperatures fell by about 0.4-0.7 degrees celsius. Weather in Northern America and Europe was impacted drastically; snowfall was observed by the good citizens of Albany, New York in the month June! As for the good crops of New York (and northern China, for that matter), frost got to them and killed them off (Evans). “Huge” is a huge understatement when describing the great Tambora eruption. FUN FACT: In 1816, Mary Shelley and her friends stayed indoors for most of June due to the volcanic winter. They then held a competition amongst themselves to see who could write the scariest story. Frankenstein born and the rest is history (The National Center For Atmospheric Research).
Video 3. Representation of Tambora's climatic impact. Image 3. One of Tambora's byproducts
Another famous Indonesian volcanic eruption is the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. I remember watching a movie in the third grade, called Krakatoa: The Last Days, and the stress it brought me even though I was watching it in the safety and comfort of my classroom. Even without the additional Hollywood sparkle sparkle, the explosion was measured to be 13,000 times the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb (Volcano Discovery). the eruption was so big, it destroyed two thirds of Krakatoa’s host island (Australian Government) and its resulting sound was considered to be the loudest sound ever heard in modern history (Dunk), with a decibel level of 310dB; it was heard 3100 miles away and was able to crack one foot thick concrete 300 miles away. To put it into perspective, a person would die from the power of a sound wave at 202dB (Decibel car). Bam.
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| Image 4. Krakatoa's sound radius (Loudest ever recorded sound) |
I then thought, as I do I do subscribe to the belief of Yin and Yang, with so much negative effects, volcanoes are bound to have tremendous positive effects as well. Sure enough there were a multitude of them. For one, volcanoes are a huge source of igneous rocks, such as pumice. These rocks have applications in our daily lives, thus helping us live an easier life and helping our economy through its sales. Speaking of economy, volcanoes also attract a lot of tourists looking to take wonderful selfies. The lava and ash deposited on the ground after an eruption acts as a ferilizer, providing nutrients for the soil and improving agricultural productivity (true embodiment of yin and yang) (BBC).
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| Image 5. Pumice (used for lightweight concrete) |
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| Image 6. Volcano tourist |
Where there is a vice, there is a virtue. Volcanoes are no exception. Although, as we have seen, volcanoes possess a caliber of power that is beyond belief. Its destructive forces are unparalleled, as portrayed by Mt. Tambora and Krakatoa. Even so, they bring the world some economical benefits, along with some great explosions for Google images.
Image 7. Volcanoes are photogenic
Bibliography :
Australian Government. (n.d.). The Eruption of Krakatoa. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.bom.gov.au/tsunami/history/1883.shtml
BBC. (2012, October 15). Volcanoes and Volcanic Eruptions. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/natural_hazards/volcanoes_rev6.shtml
Decibel Car. (n.d.). Decibel Equivalent Table (What's How Loud). Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.decibelcar.com/menugeneric/87.html
Dunk, M. (2009, July 31). Will Krakatoa rock the world again? Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1203028/Will-Krakatoa-rock-world-Last-time-killed-thousands-changed-weather-years-deadlier.html
Evans, R. (2002, July 1). History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places | Smithsonian. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/history/blast-from-the-past-65102374/
National Geographic. (n.d.). Volcano Facts, Volcano Information, Volcano Videos, Volcano Photos - National Geographic. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/volcano-profile/
Our Amazing Planet. (2011, June 10). The 10 Biggest Volcanic Eruptions in History. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.livescience.com/30507-volcanoes-biggest-history.html
The National Center For Atmospheric Research. (2012, January 1). Mount Tambora and The Year Without a Summer. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/mount-tambora-and-year-without-summer
Volcano Discovery. (2012, April 12). Merapi. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/tambora.html
Volcano Discovery. (2012, April 12). Tambora. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/tambora.html
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