Krakatau eruption - August 1883, Indonesia

Before the 1883 eruption, the island of Krakatau (located in the Sunda Strait that separates Java and Sumatra) was made up of three cones: Perbuatan, Danan and Rakata¹. Renewed activity, following close to 1,500 years of repose, started in May and was centred on the 100-m cone of Perbuatan. On 27 August at 06:00 a.m. local time, a mainly phreatic sub-Plinian/Plinian eruption began, succeeded, at 10:00 a.m. by a huge explosion that heralded the start of the climatic phase of the eruption, which lasted for several hours². During this phase of eruption nearly the whole of the island disappeared except for a horseshoe-shaped remnant of the cone of Rakata. Ash thicknesses in the Sunda Strait exceeded 1 m, with ash even deposited as far away 153 km as Batavia (now Jakarta)¹.

There were no survivors on the island of Sebesi located 13 km from the summit and pyroclastic flows killed approximately 1000 people on the coast of Sumatra located 40 km from the volcano³.

The paroxysmal stage of the eruption also generated tsunamis up to 42 m high that devastated coastal communities along the coastlines of southern Sumatra and eastern Java, taking an estimated 36,000 lives¹,⁴. The mean annual global temperature in 1884 fell by 0.5ï‚° C as a result of the loading of the stratosphere with sulphur aerosols⁴.

fn1. Van den Bergh, G.D, Boer, W, de Haas, H, van Weering, T, C.E & van Wijhe, R. 2003. Shallow marine tsunami deposits in Teluk Banten (NW Java, Indonesia), generated by the 1883 Krakatau eruption. Marine Geology. Vol. 197, pp 13-34

² Camus, G, Diament, M, Gloaguen, M, Provost, A & Vincent, P. 1992. Emplacement of a Debris Avalanche during the 1883 Eruption of Krakatau (Sunda Straits, Indonesia). GeoJournal. Vol. 28.2, pp 123-128

³ Wikipedia. 2007. Krakatoa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa

⁴ Ritchie. D & Gates, A.G. 2001. Encyclopaedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Checkmark Books, New York.