When we think about the biggest disasters in history, it is very difficult to correctly determine the magnitude of what happened, whether it is a tsunami, an earthquake or an asteroid falling from the sky. But today, when a volcano can stop all air traffic in Europe, The consequences are minimal compared to the largest recorded volcanic eruption.
In 1815, the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora occurred. The the explosion was heard at a distance of 2000 km and created what is known as the year without winter due to the amount of ash it released. It was the largest volcanic eruption ever recorded, but a new study shows that another event, which occurred about 7,300 years ago in southern Japan, takes the top spot.
The devastating explosion, known as the Kikai-Akahoya eruption, occurred south of the Japanese island of Kyushu. It is known to be an underwater volcano Kikai has caused three major eruptions in the last 140,000 years and this was the last of them, according to a study published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research.
While scientists were already aware of the ancient volcanic explosion, new research has revealed its record-breaking scale and labeled it the largest eruption of the current geologic era. Although scientists knew the importance of the event, they found it difficult to determine the size of the eruption and what triggered it due to the inherent difficulty of accessing an underwater volcano.
In the new study, researchers collected seismic data to create a detailed map of the seafloor around the volcano. The map revealed extensive underwater deposits from which samples were taken. The study authors combined these findings with existing estimates of the volcanic debris from the eruption that was deposited on the ground. The results showed that the megaeruption ejected a total volume of up to 457 cubic kilometers, more than the total volume 160,000 pyramids at Giza or enough to fill Lake Sanabria, the largest in Spain, 40 times.
The new estimate means the Kikai-Akahoya eruption is “probably the largest eruption of the Holocene,” the study authors note. In spite of, The Kikai-Akahoya eruption still pales in comparison to older eruptionslike the Toba supervolcano in Sumatra 74,000 years ago that spewed a total of 5,000 cubic kilometers of magma.
