The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano is leaving a bleak panorama on the island of La Palma. The lava has already swallowed almost 500 homes and thousands of palm trees have lost absolutely everything. It is an unusual picture in Spain , although it is much less strange in other parts of the planet Earth.
According to a recent study carried out by the United States Smithsonian’s Global Volcanology Program, there are 1,359 active volcanoes worldwide , and this 2021 there have been around 70 eruptions. It should be noted that the largest eruption in history took place 75,000 years ago, when the eruption of the Toba volcano (Indonesia) was about to end humanity.
What is the Toba volcano like?
The so-called Pacific Ring of Fire concentrates 75% of the volcanoes on Earth, and the largest of all is the Toba. It is 100 kilometers long and 35 kilometers wide, and inside there is an island and a lake.
The largest eruption in history
The eruption of the Toba volcano 75,000 years ago nearly ended life on Earth .
The gases and ash spread throughout the world, even blocking the sun’s rays. The light decreased between 25% and 90%, depending on the area , and the temperature dropped between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius.
Incredible as it may seem, the climate changed, and for a decade there was no summer . Millions of plants and animals died, and according to various studies, only 2,000 humans survived. Only those who lived on the southern coast of Africa were kept safe.
To get an idea of the magnitude of the eruption, its destructive power was thousands of times greater than the atomic bombs of Hirosima and Nagasaki .
According to an article published in the journal “Communications Earth & Environment”, so-called “supervolcanoes” can remain dangerous and active for several thousand years after an eruption.
For his part, associate professor Martin Daniík, lead author of the John de Laeter Center at Curtin University (Australia), points out that “supervolcanoes” erupt several times at intervals of tens of thousands of years , but until date it was impossible to determine what happens during periods of inactivity.
