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Krakatoa / Krakatau

Cult_of_Mana

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Krakatoa exploded in 1883.

I'd like to know more about seismic and meteorological events that may have contributed to the collapse of megalithic cultures. Disease epidemics may have also played a part - passed on by passing seafarers perhaps. ...
 
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Mana said:
Krakatoa exploded in 1883.

It also erupted in 1680. There have been other major eruptions in the past, and David keys ( Thanks Annasdottir!) is suggesting that Krakatoa was responsible for the events of 535AD.
 
Isn't Krakatoa just a lava belcher? Surely the volcanoes that are likely to affect the world's climate are the gas/ash spewing ones. Krakatoa's 1883 eruption was heard hundreds of miles away and caused devastating tsunamis but I don't think it has had any effect on our climate.
I haven't read David Keys. Could someone elaborate more on his theories? I had a quick look at the website suggested by Annasdottir. Is there any info on the evidence that it could have been Krakatoa? Analysis of lava flows etc?

Xanatic, I thought Velikovsky was absolutely bonkers but it was a cracking good read! I'd love to debate his theories with people who know something about the things he was discussing. A subject for another thread in the future perhaps.
 
Mana said:
Isn't Krakatoa just a lava belcher? Surely the volcanoes that are likely to affect the world's climate are the gas/ash spewing ones. Krakatoa's 1883 eruption was heard hundreds of miles away and caused devastating tsunamis but I don't think it has had any effect on our climate.


Some info on the 1883 Krakatoa Eruption from Here

Krakatau erupted in 1883, in one of the largest eruptions in recent time. Krakatau is an island volcano along the Indonesian arc, between the much larger islands of Sumatra and Java (each of which has many volcanoes also along the arc).

Summary of effects:

1. The explosions were heard on Rodriguez Island, 4653 km distant across the Indian Ocean, and over 1/13th of the earth's surface.

2. Ash fell on Singapore 840 km to the N, Cocos (Keeling) Island 1155 km to the SW, and ships as far as 6076 km WNW. Darkness covered the Sunda Straits from 11 a.m. onthe 27th until dawn the next day.

3. Giant waves reached heights of 40 m above sea level, devastating everything in their path and hurling ashore coral blocks weighing as much as 600 tons.

4. At least 36,417 people were killed, most by the giant sea waves, and 165 coastal villages were destroyed.

5. When the eruption ended only 1/3 of Krakatau, formerly 5x9 km, remained above sea level, and new islands of steaming pumice and ash lay to the north where the sea had been 36 m deep.

6. Every recording barograph in the world ducumented the passage of the airwave, some as many as 7 times as the wave bounced back and forth between the eruption site and its antipodes for 5 days after the explosion.

7. Tide gauges also recorded the sea wave's passage far from Krakatau. The wave "reached Aden in 12 hours, a distance of 3800 nautical miles, usually traversed by a good steamer in 12 days".

8. Blue and green suns were observed as fine ash and aerosol, erupted perhaps 50 km into the stratosphere, circled the equator in 13 days.

9. Theree months after the eruption these products had spread to higher latitudes causing such vivid red sunset afterglows that fire engines were called out in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven to quench the apparent conflagration. Unusual sunsets continued for 3 years.

10. Rafts of floating pumice-locally thick enouth to support men, trees, and no doubt other biological passengers-crossed the indian Ocean in 10 months. Others reached Melanesia, and were still afloat two years after the eruption.

11. The volcanic dust veil that created such spectacular atmospheric effects also acted as a solar radiation filter, lowering global temperatures as much as 1.2 degree C in the year after the eruption. Temperatures did not return to normal until 1888.

Other links to Vulcanism & Climate Here

I Believe the theory David Keys is promoting suggests a Much bigger eruption than the 1883 one.
 
Isn't Krakatoa just a lava belcher? Surely the volcanoes that are likely to affect the world's climate are the gas/ash spewing ones. Krakatoa's 1883 eruption was heard hundreds of miles away and caused devastating tsunamis but I don't think it has had any effect on our climate.

Krakatoa ejected an estimated 50Tg of sulphur into the stratosphere. In comparison, Pinatubo, which erupted in 1991, ejected 10 Tg of sulphur into the stratosphere, causing nearly 1° cooling globally, ending what had been a period of increasingly hot (northern hemisphere) summers. The cooling caused by Krakatoa would have been even more pronounced.

In any event, volcanoes often have a major effect on people, animals and crops without being part of a significant eruption. The strange events recorded by Ben Franklin during his stay in Europe were caused by a less-than-cataclysmic volcanic event in Iceland, which caused massive disruption throughout Europe, including deaths of people and livestock and poor harvests.

I (very) vaguely remember that a similar situation to that described by Franklin was also described by monks in one of the Hebridean monkerys in the latter part of the first millenium; don't know if it was the event Keys was talking about.
 
4imix said:
Some info on the 1883 Krakatoa Eruption from Here



Other links to Vulcanism & Climate Here

I Believe the theory David Keys is promoting suggests a Much bigger eruption than the 1883 one.

Oooh! Thanks. Particularly like the Vulcanism & Climate link. It's all becoming clear.....
 
This thread is being established to consolidate postings (or copies thereof) pertaining to the volcano / supervolcano Krakatoa / Krakatau - arguably the most significant single-point terrestrial cause of catastrophe in historical times.
 
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