Geology Rocks

xenophonspeaks:

WARNING: Geology/volcano rant ahead.

Let me just explain something AMA-FUCK-AZING to you. First of all, I scanned this figure from a book I own called Volcanoes In Human History: The Far-Reaching Effects of Major Eruptions, by Jelle Zeilinga de Boer and Donald Theodore Sanders.

This figure is a schematic comparison of the volume of volcanic materials emitted during several well-known eruptions (which are discussed in the book). It’s a great reflection of the Volcanic Explosivity Index, or VEI.

Tambora, the second biggest circle, is the largest eruption to ever occur in recorded history. It rates at a 7/8 on the VEI, and ejected 50 cubic kilometers of material into the atmosphere on eruption. It resulted in the deaths of 70,000 people, and caused an entire year in 1815 to be completely without summer, killing thousands worldwide when crops failed and disease was rampant.

Toba, by comparison, was the largest eruption that we’ve so far found evidence of in history ever, and it did so 74,000 years ago— right around the time of the last ice age. It rates at a 8/8 on the VEI, and ejected 2,800 cubic kilometers of material. Through DNA analysis, we can tell how many people populated the earth at a given time. At the time of Toba’s eruption, temperatures on earth dropped by 10 degrees Celsius, creating a volcanic winter and likely adding to the stress on the early human race. There’s some good evidence to support the idea that at one point in time, humanity was diminished to 10,000 people (some argue even less) in what’s known as an evolutionary bottleneck.

Toba is a supervolcano, much like the one seated in Yellowstone. There are many of them located worldwide, though most are extinct or inactive. Imagine the type of destruction that could result from one of these things going off today. Which is unlikely, but not completely unrealistic, either.

Gah, the excitement! X3 I’m not sure why volcanoes make me so ridiculously happy, but they do. I find them fascinating. Hope I didn’t bore you to death.