The Austerity of the Mount Tambora Eruption

The Austerity of the Mount Tambora Eruption

Natural Disasters ATOC 185 – 001/EPSC 185 – 001

Abstract

        The Mount Tambora Eruption was the largest eruption since humans walked the planet, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of seven, which killed 70 thousand people throughout many lasting years. In Indonesia, the pyroclastic material released instantly killed ten thousand people and throughout the next year, 38 thousand people died from starvation; as well, the material flowed into the ocean, producing many tsunamis. The ash and sulfuric acid in the atmosphere absorbed the solar radiation, cooling earth’s average temperature by point-five degrees Celsius, leading to lower crop yields, starvation and death. The effects where felt worldwide and people reacted by hunting for survival, committing suicide, harvesting ripe crops and migrating, which led to decreased GDP from the victim states.

        When the question, “Which natural disaster would you study?” was asked, I ventured to find one of the largest disasters I could find. I stumbled upon a website titled, The Year Without Summer, which intrigued me. After reading the paper, I knew the disaster I read was destined to be my case study for the term paper. The disaster known as the “Year Without Summer” was triggered by the Mount Tambora eruption in 1815, which was the most powerful eruption since human beings walked the planet^[1] (refer to Figure 1 in the appendix). As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) described in 2009, Mount Tambora’s eruption is considered a “Super-Colossal” eruption on the Volcanic Explosivity Index and a magnitude of seven. The Eruption occurred exactly in Sumbawa, Indonesia. Surrounding Mount Tambora are two oceanic crusts. The crusts are subducting under the mountain resulting in one of the highest volcanoes in Indonesia at about 4,300 meters high. The crater after the eruption is now five kilometers wide, one kilometer deep and the base is 90 kilometers wide.^[2]

        The Eruption occurred in April 1815 and begun showing signs on April 5th where a small eruption took place with a small black cloud forming.^[3] The austerity of the eruption occurred due to centuries of quiet periods where the magma cooled and became much more viscous. When magma is viscous, enormous amounts of pressure is needed to move it. As temperature and pressure rose to about 800 degrees Celsius and 65,000 psi respectively, an eruption was bound to occur. ^[4]

        As Mr. Wickens stated in 2007, the 12th of April was the beginning of the eruption, which intensified and erupted over the course of five days. The eruption started off as a column of fire above the mountain’s crater. Soon after, large pyroclastic materials started to rain down on the cities surrounding it, flowing on all sides of the mountain, wiping out the village of Tambora and flowing into the sea, producing many tsunamis in the Pacific and Indian Ocean.^[5] This daunting disaster was heard about 2,600 kilometers away in a Sumatra Island as a loud cannon fire. The pyroclastic material flowed down the mountain at over 160 kilometers an hour, melting and destroying everything in its path and travelled about 40 kilometers into the ocean.^[6] The ash that was deposited on the surface extended a very large area with a significant thickness (refer to Figure 2 in appendix).