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Mount Tambora

*** Shopping-Tip: Mount Tambora
{{Mtnbox start norange|Name=Tambora|Photo=tambora volc.jpg| Caption=Tambora seen from space|Elevation=2,850 metres (9,350 feet)| Location=Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia}} {{Mtnbox coor dm|8|15|S|118|0|E|type:mountain}} {{Mtnbox volcano|Type=Stratovolcano|Age=|Last eruption=1967 ± 20 years [http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0604-04=]}} {{Mtnbox finish}} '''Mount Tambora''' is a stratovolcano on the Indonesia Indonesian island of Sumbawa. In 1815, the volcano of Tambora suffered the most violent eruption in modern times. Beginning in early April and continuing through the middle of July, its explosion affected an immense area that included the Maluku Islands (Molucca Islands), Java (island) Java, and portions of Sulawesi (Celebes), Sumatra, and Borneo. Heavy Volcanic ash ash rains also specifically affected the islands of Bali and Lombok. Approximately 92,000 people were killed because of Pyroclastic flows or starvation and disease. 1816 became known as "the Year Without a Summer" because of the extreme weather conditions the eruption caused.

The most violent eruption in recorded history
Mount Tambora erupted on April 10, by most accounts, and the eruption lasted from April 10 to April 15. The explosion, of Volcanic Explosivity Index 6-7 released roughly 4 times the energy of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa and it ejected an estimated 100 cubic km of pyroclastic trachyandesite, weighing approximately Orders of magnitude (mass) 2-3 × 10¹⁴ kg. This left a caldera 7km (4 mi) across. Before the explosion, Mount Tambora was approximately 4200m (13,000 ft) high; after the explosion, it was only 2851m (about 9,000 ft) high. Image:Map indonesia volcanoes.gif thumb|300px|Indonesia has more active volcanoes than any other nation Although the Tambora eruption was the largest eruption in recorded history, it was dwarfed by numerous other prehistoric eruptions. A similar sized, or possibly slightly larger, eruption occurred at Lake Taupo on the North Island in what is now New Zealand in roughly 180 AD[http://www.gns.cri.nz/what/earthact/volcanoes/nzvolcanoes/taupoprint.htm], although there was no one living there to observe it. The date has been determined from China Chinese and Ancient Rome Roman records of dramatic sunsets and erratic weather[http://data.gns.cri.nz/hazardwatch/2005_06_01_factarch.html], and from radiocarbon dating[http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0401-07=&volpage=erupt&format=expanded]. The largest eruption during the time that mankind has lived on the planet was at Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra roughly 75,000 years ago which produced around 2800 cubic kilometres of material. There is DNA evidence that the number of ''Homo sapiens'' alive were reduced to a few tens of thousand at that time, and it has been hypothesised that this was caused by a volcanic winter brought on by the Toba eruption[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/09/980908074159.htm]. An eruption of this size occurs somewhere on the planet every few tens of thousands of years. Image:Vesuvius1822scrope.jpg thumb|left|250px|Depiction of the eruption of [[Vesuvius in 1822. Tambora's violent blast only seven years before must have looked similar.]]

Effects
All vegetation on several nearby islands was destroyed. About 10,000 people died immediately from the eruption, with about 82,000 dying from later consequences of the disaster. Worldwide deaths caused by starvation and disease due to climate change are more difficult to quantify. A kingdom on the flanks of Tambora was buried in the ash, apparently, and a few of its ruins have been discovered (and compared to Pompeii). [http://www.physorg.com/news11256.html] The eruption sent so much volcanic ash into the atmosphere that weather patterns around the world were altered, causing the following year to be nicknamed the "Year Without a Summer". Average global temperatures decreased about .3 degrees Celsius (approx. 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit), which seems like a small number, but it is enough to cause significant agricultural problems around the globe. Summer frosts ruined crops as far south as Virginia (by some historical accounts, even Thomas Jefferson's crops were ruined), and snow fell in August in New England. Some historians hypothesize that the cooling after the explosion of Mt. Tambora is at least partly responsible for the concurrent large migration of peoples from New England to the region west of the Ohio River. One particularly notable migrant is Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church. As with most large rhyolitic eruptions, the eruption of Mt. Tambora caused beautiful sunsets with vivid streaks of green for several years. This is caused by ash lingering high in the stratosphere where it is not washed away by rain.

Quotes from 1815 accounts of the eruption
''Metric values added where possible''

Explosion
"The concussions produced by its explosions were felt at a distance of a thousand miles (1600km) all round; and their sound is said to have been heard even at so great a distance as seventeen hundred miles (2700km). In Java the day was darkened by clouds of Volcanic ash ashes, thrown from the mountain to that great distance (three hundred miles or 500km), and the houses, streets, and fields, were covered to the depth of several inches with the ashes that fell from the air. So great was the quantity of ashes ejected, that the roofs of houses forty miles (65km) distant from the volcano were broken in by their weight. The effects of the eruption extended even to the western coasts of Sumatra, where masses of pumice were seen floating on the surface of the sea, several feet in thickness and many miles in extent."

Pyroclastic flow
"From the crater itself there were seen to ascend 3 fiery pyroclastic columns, which, after soaring to a great height, appeared to unite in a confused manner at their tops. Soon, the whole of the side of the mountain next to the village of Sang'ir seemed like one vast body of liquid fire. The glare was terrific, until towards evening, when it became partly obscured by the vast quantities of dust, ashes, stones, and cinders thrown up from the crater. Between nine and ten o'clock at night the ashes and stones began to fall upon the village of Sang'ir, and all round the neighbourhood of the mountain."

Atmospheric disturbance
Image:Pinatubo dust layer.jpg thumb|right|250px|Thick ash cloud sent skyward by [[Mount Pinatubo in this 1991 space shuttle photo. Tambora, in 1815, released a far larger layer of ash and debris that disrupted weather around the world for the next few years, causing massive global cooling.]] "The heat triggered a 'dreadful whirlwind', which blew down nearly every house in the village, tossing the roofs and lighter parts high into the air. In the neighbouring sea-port the effects were even more violent, the largest trees having been torn up by the roots and whirled aloft. Before such a furious tempest no living thing could stand. Men, horses, and cattle were whirled into the air like so much chaff, and then dashed violently down on the ground. The sea rose nearly twelve feet above the highest tide-mark, sweeping away houses, trees, everything within its reach. This whirlwind lasted about 19 seconds."

Gradual decrease
"The 'awful internal thunderings of the mountain' continued with scarcely any intermission until the July 11 11th of July, when they became more moderate, the intervals between them gradually increasing until the July 15 15th of July, when they ceased. Almost all the villages for a long distance round the mountain were destroyed. By far the greatest part of this destruction was wrought by the violence of the whirlwind which accompanied the eruption."

See also
*List of volcanoes *List of famous volcanic eruption deaths *Volcanic Explosivity Index (includes list of large eruptions) *List of deadliest natural disasters

External links
* {{cite web | title=Tambora Volcano, Indonesia | work=USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory | url=http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Indonesia/description_tambora_1815_eruption.html | accessdate 2006-03-19 }} * {{ cite web | title=Tambora, Sumbawa, Indonesia | work=University of North Dakota Volcano World | url=http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/southeast_asia/indonesia/tambora.html | accessdate=2006-03-19 }} * {{ cite web | title=Satellite image of Tambora | work=Google Local | url=http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-8.245239,117.995224&spn=0.332027,0.468361&t=k&hl=en | accessdate=2006-03-19 }} * {{ cite web | title=Lost Kingdom of Tambora: Research by URI's Haraldur Sigurdsson | work=University of Rhode Island Dept. of Communications | url=http://www.uri.edu/news/tambora/ | accessdate=2006-03-19 }}

Reference
* {{cite journal | author=Stothers, Richard B. | title=The great Tambora eruption in 1815 and its aftermath | journal=Science | year=1984 | volume=224 | issue = 4654 | pages=1191-1198}} Category:Stratovolcanoes Tambora, Mount Category:Subduction volcanoes Tambora, Mount Category:Volcanoes of Sumbawa Tambora, Mount Category:Mountains of Indonesia Tambora, Mount Category:Active volcanoes Tambora, Mount Category:VEI-7 volcanoes Tambora, Mount de:Tambora et:Tambora es:Tambora fr:Tambora fy:Tambora id:Gunung Tambora nl:Tambora pl:Tambora pt:Monte Tambora fi:Tambora

*** Shopping-Tip: Mount Tambora