Krakatau Incident - 1883 AD

Jakarta (DreamLandLibrary) - Krakatau is an active volcanic archipelago and is located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra. This name was once pinned on a volcanic peak there (Mount Krakatoa) which vanished because of its own eruption on August 26-27, 1883. The eruption was very powerful; the hot clouds and the resulting tsunami killed around 36,000 people. Until before December 26, 2004, this tsunami was the most devastating in the Indian Ocean region. The sound of the eruption was heard reaching Alice Springs, Australia and Rodrigues Island near Africa, 4,653 kilometers. Its explosive power is estimated at 30,000 times the atomic bomb that was detonated on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

Krakatau eruption caused global climate change. The world was dark for two and a half days due to volcanic ash that covered the atmosphere. The sun shines dim until next year. Scattering of dust visible in the skies of Norway to New York.

Krakatau explosion is actually still inferior to the eruption of Mount Toba and Mount Tambora in Indonesia, Mount Tanpo in New Zealand and Mount Katmal in Alaska. But these volcanoes erupted considerably in a time when human populations were still very few. Meanwhile, when Mount Krakatoa erupted, the human population was already quite dense, science and technology had developed, telegraphs had been discovered, and submarine cables had been installed. Thus it can be said that at that time information technology was growing and developing rapidly.

It was noted that the eruption of Mount Krakatoa was the first major disaster in the world after the discovery of an underwater telegraph. This progress has unfortunately not been matched by progress in the field of geology. Geologists at that time were not even able to provide an explanation of the eruption.

The development of Mount Krakatau

Ancient Krakatau Mountain
Looking at the Krakatau Mountain region in the Sunda Strait, experts estimate that in ancient times there was a very large mountain in the Sunda Strait which finally erupted devastatingly leaving a caldera (large crater) called Mount Krakatau Purba, which was the mother of Mount Krakatau which erupted on 1883. The mountain is composed of andesitic rocks.

The account of the Ancient Krakatau eruption was taken from an Old Javanese text entitled Pustaka Raja Parwa which is thought to have originated from 416 AD. Its contents, among others, state:

"There was a thunderous thunder coming from Mount Batuwara. There was also a terrifying earth shake, total darkness, lightning and lightning. Then came a terrible wind and rain storm and all the storms darkened the whole world. A great flood came from Mount Batuwara and flowed into east towards Mount Kamula ... When the water drowned it, the island of Java separated into two, creating the island of Sumatra "

Geologist Berend George Escher and a number of other experts argue that the natural event that was told came from Mount Krakatau, which in the text is called Gunung Batuwara. According to Raja Parwa's book, the height of the Ancient Krakatau reached 2,000 meters above sea level, and the coastline reached 11 kilometers.

As a result of the great explosion, three quarters of the ancient Krakatau body were destroyed leaving a caldera (large crater) in the Sunda Strait. The sides or edges of the crater are known as Rakata Island, Panjang Island and Sertung Island, in other records referred to as Rakata Island, Rakata Kecil Island and Sertung Island. This eruption was allegedly responsible for the occurrence of the dark ages on earth. Bubonic plague occurs because the temperature cools. This pestilence significantly reduced the number of inhabitants on earth.

This eruption was also thought to have contributed to the end of the heyday of ancient Persia, the transmutation of the Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire, the end of the civilization of South Arabia, the extinction of the great Maya city, Tikal and the fall of the enigmatic Nazca civilization in South America. The Ancient Krakatau explosion was estimated to last for 10 days with an estimated mass vomit speed reaching 1 million tons per second. The explosion has formed an atmosphere shield of 20-150 meters thick, reducing temperatures by 5-10 degrees for 10-20 years.

The emergence of Mount Krakatoa
Rakata Island, which is one of the three remaining islands of Ancient Krakatau Mountain, grew according to volcanic impulses from the bowels of the earth known as Mount Krakatau (or Rakata Mountain) made of basaltic rock. Then, two volcanoes emerge from the middle of the crater, named Mount Danan and Mount Perbuwatan which then merges with Mount Rakata which appears first. This third union of volcanoes is called Mount Krakatoa.

Mount Krakatoa erupted in 1680 to produce andesitic acid lava. Then in 1880, Mount Perbuwatan actively released lava even though it did not erupt. After that time, there was no more volcanic activity on Krakatau until May 20, 1883. On that day, after 200 years of sleep, there was a small explosion on Mount Krakatau. Those are the first signs of a terrible eruption in the Sunda Strait. These small explosions were then followed by small eruptions which culminated on August 26-27, 1883.

Eruption 1883
On Monday, August 27, 1883, at exactly 10:20, there was an explosion on the mountain. According to Simon Winchester, a geologist graduated from the University of Oxford in England who is also the author of National Geographic said that the explosion was the biggest, loudest sound and the most devastating volcanic event in modern human history. The sound of the eruption was heard up to 4,600 km from the center of the eruption and could even be heard by 1/8 inhabitants of the earth at that time.

According to researchers at the University of North Dakota, the Krakatoa explosion along with the Tambora explosion (1815) recorded the largest Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) in modern history. The Guiness Book of Records records the explosion of Krakatoa as the most intense explosion recorded in history.

Krakatoa explosion has thrown pumice stones and volcanic ash with a volume of 18 cubic kilometers. Volcanic ash bursts reaching 80 km. Hard objects that scattered into the air fell on the plains of Java and Sumatra even to Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand.

The eruption destroyed Mount Danan, Mount Perbuwatan and part of Mount Rakata where half of the cone disappeared, making a basin as wide as 7 km and as deep as 250 meters. Sea waves rising as high as 40 meters destroy villages and anything that is on the coast. This tsunami arose not only because of the eruption but also an underwater avalanche.

The death toll was recorded at 36,417 people from 295 coastal villages ranging from Merak (Serang) to Cilamaya in Karawang, west coast of Banten to Tanjung Layar on Panaitan Island (Ujung Kulon and southern Sumatra. In Ujungkulon, flooding came in to 15) km to the west The next day until a few days later, the inhabitants of Jakarta and Lampung inland no longer see the sun.The tsunami waves generated even spread to the coast of Hawaii, the west coast of Central America and the Arabian Peninsula a distance of 7 thousand kilometers.

Anak Krakatau
Starting in 1927 or about 40 years after the eruption of Mount Krakatoa, a volcano, known as the Anak Krakatoa from the ancient caldera region, is still active and continues to increase in height. High growth speed of around 20 inches per month. Every year it gets about 20 feet taller and 40 feet wider. Other notes mention the addition of a height of about 4 cm per year and if calculated, then within 25 years the addition of the height of the Rakata child reached 7,500 inches or 500 feet higher than the previous 25 years. The cause of the high mountain was caused by material coming out of the belly of the new mountain. At present the height of Anak Krakatau reaches about 230 meters above sea level, while Mount Krakatau was 813 meters above sea level.

According to Simon Winchester, even though what happened in Krakatoa's life that was once very frightening, the geological, seismic and tectonic realities in Java and Sumatra will ensure that what happened once will happen again. No one knows for sure when the Child of Krakatoa will erupt. Some geologists predict this eruption will occur between 2015-2083. But the effects of the earthquake on the bottom of the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 also cannot be ignored.

Anak Krakatau, February 2008

According to Professor Ueda Nakayama, one of Japan's volcano experts, Anak Krakatau is still relatively safe despite being active and there are often small eruptions, only certain times tourists are prohibited from approaching this area because of the danger of incandescent lava spewing this volcano. Other experts claim there is no plausible theory about Anak Krakatau which will erupt again. Even if there are at least 3 more centuries or after 2325 AD But clearly, the number of victims caused is more awesome than the previous eruption. Anak Krakatau is now generally known by the community as "Mount Krakatau" as well, although it is actually a new mountain that grew after the previous eruption.

External links
The page on Krakatau on the Discovery Channel
Krakatau Children photo collection eruption 2011-2012
van Sandick RA 1890. In The Realm of The Volcano. The eruption of Krakatoa and the aftermath. Zutphen, W.J. Thieme & Cie. The online book contains the records of a machine interpreter when Krakatoa erupted
The page contains accounts of witnesses to the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatau


Photo: Special