Krakatoa (1883)
A volcanic cone on the Anak Krakatau, an island that formed near Krakatoa because of the eruption. H. POITRENAUD/AFP/Getty Images
The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, also in Indonesia, killed more than 36,000 people, making it one of the deadliest explosions in history.
As was the case with other massive eruptions, Krakatoa’s precursors included billowing smoke and small, seemingly insignificant earthquakes that not only went unheeded, but that were actually folded into festival celebrations of the time — Krakatoa’s “natural fireworks” were deemed a mere lucky surprise.
Except not, because shortly thereafter the blast sent a cloud of debris 15 miles into the air — and the eruption itself was heard some 2,800 miles away in Australia. The magma chamber ruptured and allowed sea water to come into contact with the burning hot lava. This created flashes of superheated steam that moved at over 60 miles per hour, quickly claiming the eruption’s first victims.
The cloud of ash and debris cast a darkness that didn’t recede for three days.
Furthermore, not unlike when Tambora erupted, the rest of the Earth experienced climatic changes, with global weather patterns not returning to normal for five years, as a direct result of Krakatoa’s eruption.
Mount Pinatubo (1991)
Mount Pinatubo. ARLAN NAEG/AFP/Getty Images
Just 25 years ago the world was shaken by the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines. The fallout lingers to this day.
At first, Pinatubo just leaked for a while, but when the molten magma finally reached the surface, it ejected more than 1 cubic mile of debris 22 miles into the air. Sand, ash, and pumice pummeled the countryside and satellites were actually able to track the path of the ash cloud as it traveled around the world.
On a global scale, the eruption caused harmful depletion of the ozone layer at rates never seen before.
Avalanches of fiery ash cascaded into the valleys surrounding Pinatubo and eventually destroyed their underlying structural integrity, so much so that the summit actually collapsed and created a 1.6-mile-wide crater.
The deposits surrounding Pinatubo continue to retain much of their heat today, with temperatures still as high as 900 degrees Fahrenheit. As you can imagine, when the deposits come in contact with water, it causes explosions and clouds of hot ash. Because Pinatubo is also in monsoon territory, the gusts can carry the burning ash and debris even further than they would travel by way of normal wind — basically making fire typhoons.
Although Pinatoba killed around 350 people, most of them did not die by way of heat-flashes or lava streams. The vast majority died from collapsing roofs.
After learning about some of the biggest volcano eruptions in history, read about the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Then, see “dirty lightning” in action as a thunderstorm rages inside a volcanic eruption.
