Toba Super Volcano - The Origin of Lake Toba

Talking about super volcano, perhaps you'll never think that the huge Lake Toba in the center of North Sumatra, Indonesia is a product of the ancient earth's massive explosions of Toba super volcano. The fact has been concluded by scientists. Toba super volcano along with the Yellowstone, Long Valley, and Valles Caldera in the United State; Aira Caldera, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan and Taupo Volcano, North Island, New Zealand are known as the six most highlighted super volcanoes of planet earth. A super volcano is said to be capable of producing volcanic eruptions with volcanic materials greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers, and thousand times larger than most historic volcanic eruptions. Then Toba Super Volcano got this label because of its mega explosion.

Toba super volcano erupted between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago. The eruption of Toba super volcano is still believed to be the largest explosive eruption anywhere on earth in the last 25 million years. Toba super volcano eruption spewed out about 2,800 cubic kilometers of volcanic materials, and the Pyroclastic flows of the eruption destroyed an area of 20,000 square kilometers. It is believed by many scientists that the super volcanic event plunged the planet into a 6-to-10-years of volcanic winter, which resulted in the world's human population being reduced to 10,000 or even a mere 1,000 breeding pairs, creating a bottleneck in human evolution. Some researchers argue that the Toba super volcano eruption produced not only a catastrophic volcanic winters, but also an additional 1,000-years' cooling episode. A caldera is formed by the subsequent collapse. Then it was gradually filled with water and became what we know now as Lake Toba. The rising caldera floor also formed the Samosir Island at the center of the lake, which was due to movements in the magma chamber beneath it. Those are the scientific point of view including Toba super volcano as the origin of Lake Toba.

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Toba Super Volcano - The Origin of Lake Toba

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