Toba Supervolcano

Walls of the long-since-collapsed Toba volcano on Sumatra island rise behind rice fields. (Picture from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/)

About 74 thousand years ago, the Toba volcano in Sumatra erupted explosively and cause a global catastrophe. The impact made ​​the Toba eruption of the volcano are classified as supervolcano. Not only ash, Toba send enough sulfuric acid into the atmosphere to create acid rain in the polar regions of the earth.

Samosir Island (center) rose
within the now water-filled
crater of the collapsed Toba 
 volcano. (Picture from:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/)

This information was obtained after scientists dug residual traces of sulfuric acid in polar ice cores. "We keep track of acid rain in the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica," says Anders Svensson, glaciologist from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday November 6, 2012.

Ice cores can provide more detailed evidence about the Earth's climate has changed dramatically in just a few years after the massive eruption of Toba. "There is no uniform global cooling caused by the Toba eruption," said Svensson.

According to him, large temperature fluctuations cooling only found in the northern hemisphere, while in the southern hemisphere warmer. "Global cooling occurred within a short period."

This shows the bipolar matching of volcanic 
acidity spikes (sulphate) in Greenland and 
Antarctic ice cores at around the Toba eruption. 
(Pictures from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/)

New evidence found by Svensson and colleagues promising solution for a number of archaeological debate. The Toba eruption occurred at a critical point in the history of early man when Homo sapiens first came out of Africa into Asia. But there is a clear difference of opinion about the fate of mankind. "Are most of the inhabitants of the earth destroyed by the eruption of that?"

He said layers of volcanic ash from the eruption of Toba have been found in most parts of Asia. The material is used as a guide eruption of ancient archaeological represent a very important civilization which is considered too old to do carbon dating. "The position of the Toba eruption on the ice core record will be put in the context of climate archaeological finds. This will help explain the critical period of human history," said Svensson. Detail the research is published in the journal Climate of the Past. *** [LIVESCIENCE | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 4049]

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