Mount Tambora facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mount Tambora |
|
|---|---|
| Tomboro | |
Caldera of Mount Tambora
|
|
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,850 m (9,350 ft) |
| Prominence | 2,722 m (8,930 ft) |
| Geography | |
 Mount Tambora
Location in Indonesia
|
|
| Location | Bima & Dompu Regencies, Sanggar peninsula, Sumbawa, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia |
| Geology | |
| Age of rock | Late Pleistocene-recent |
| Mountain type | Trachybasaltic-trachyandesitic stratovolcano |
| Volcanic arc | Sunda Arc |
| Last eruption | 1967 |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Southeast: Doro Mboha Northwest: Pancasila |
Mount Tambora, or Tomboro, is an active stratovolcano in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. It is located on Sumbawa in the Lesser Sunda Islands and was formed by the active subduction zones beneath it. Before 1815, it was one of the tallest peaks in the Indonesian archipelago - more than 4,300 metres (14,100 feet) high.
Tambora violently erupted in a series of eruptions beginning 5 April 1815. The eruption contributed to global climate anomalies in the following years, while 1816 became known as the "year without a summer" because of the impact on North American and European weather. In the Northern Hemisphere, crops failed and livestock died, resulting in the worst famine of the century.
Mount Tambora is still active. The last eruption was recorded in 1967. However, it was a gentle eruption and was non-explosive. Another very small eruption was reported in 2011.
Contents
Geographical setting
Mount Tambora is situated in the northern part of Sumbawa island, part of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It is a segment of the Sunda Arc, a chain of volcanic islands that make up the southern chain of the Indonesian archipelago. Tambora forms its own peninsula on Sumbawa, known as the Sanggar peninsula. To the north of the peninsula is the Flores Sea and to the south is the 86 kilometres (53 mi) long and 36 kilometres (22 mi) wide Saleh Bay. At the mouth of Saleh Bay there is an islet called Mojo.
Eruption
Before 1815, Mount Tambora had been dormant for several centuries. In 1812, the crater began to rumble and generated a dark cloud.
A moderate-sized eruption on 5 April 1815 was followed by thunderous detonation sounds that could be heard in Ternate on the Molucca Islands, 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) from Mount Tambora. On the morning of 6 April 1815, volcanic ash began to fall in East Java, with faint detonation sounds lasting until 10 April. What was first thought to be the sound of firing guns was heard on 10 and 11 April on Sumatra island (more than 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) away), and possibly over 3350 km (2060 miles) away in Thailand and Laos.
The eruptions intensified at about 7:00 p.m. on the 10th. Three plumes rose and merged. Pieces of pumice of up to 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in diameter rained down at approximately 8 p.m., followed by ash at around 9–10 p.m. The eruption column collapsed, producing hot pyroclastic flows that cascaded down the mountain and towards the sea on all sides of the peninsula, wiping out the village of Tambora. Loud explosions were heard until the next evening, 11 April. The veil of ash spread as far as West Java and South Sulawesi, while a "nitrous odor" was noticeable in Batavia. The heavy tephra-tinged rain did not recede until 17 April.
The eruption is estimated to have had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7. It had 4–10 times the energy of the 1883 Krakatoa eruption. The explosion was heard 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) or 3,350 kilometres (2,080 mi) away, and ash deposits were registered at a distance of at least 1,300 kilometres (810 mi). A pitch of darkness was observed as far away as 600 kilometres (370 mi) from the mountain summit for up to two days.
Culture
A human settlement obliterated by the Tambora eruption was discovered in 2004. That summer, a team led by Haraldur Sigurðsson with scientists from the University of Rhode Island, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the Indonesian Directorate of Volcanology began an archaeological dig in Tambora. Over six weeks, they unearthed evidence of habitation about 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of the caldera, deep in jungle, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from shore. The team excavated 3 metres (9.8 ft) of deposits of pumice and ash. The scientists used ground-penetrating radar to locate a small buried house which contained the remains of two adults, bronze bowls, ceramic pots, iron tools and other artifacts. Tests revealed that objects had been carbonized by the heat of the magma. Sigurdsson dubbed the find the "Pompeii of the East", and media reports referred to the "Lost Kingdom of Tambora". Sigurdsson intended to return to Tambora in 2007 to search for the rest of the villages, and hopefully to find a palace. Many villages in the area had converted to Islam in the 17th century, but the structures uncovered so far do not show Islamic influence.
Based on the artifacts found, such as bronzeware and finely decorated china possibly of Vietnamese or Cambodian origin, the team concluded that the people were well-off traders. The Sumbawa people were known in the East Indies for their horses, honey, sappan wood (for producing red dye), and sandalwood (for incense and medications). The area was thought to be highly productive agriculturally.
Aftermath
The island's entire vegetation was destroyed as uprooted trees, mixed with pumice ash, washed into the sea and formed rafts of up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) across. Clouds of thick ash still covered the summit on 23 April. Explosions ceased on 15 July, although smoke emissions were still observed as late as 23 August. Flames and rumbling aftershocks were reported in August 1819, four years after the event.
A moderate tsunami struck the shores of various islands in the Indonesian archipelago on 10 April, with waves reaching 4 metres (13 ft) in Sanggar at around 10 p.m. A tsunami causing waves of 1 to 2 metres (3.3 to 6.6 ft) was reported in Besuki, East Java before midnight and another exceeded 2 metres (6.6 ft) in the Molucca Islands. The eruption column reached the stratosphere at an altitude of more than 43 kilometres (141,000 ft). Coarser ash particles fell one to two weeks after the eruptions, while finer particles stayed in the atmosphere for months to years at an altitude of 10 to 30 kilometres (33,000 to 98,000 ft). There are various estimates of the volume of ash emitted: a recent study estimates a dense-rock equivalent volume for the ash of 23 ± 3 cubic kilometres (5.52 ± 0.72 cu mi) and a dense-rock equivalent volume of 18 ± 6 cubic kilometres (4.3 ± 1.4 cu mi) for the pyroclastic flows. Longitudinal winds spread these fine particles around the globe, creating optical phenomena. Between 28 June and 2 July, and between 3 September and 7 October 1815, prolonged and brilliantly coloured sunsets and twilights were frequently seen in London, England. Most commonly, pink or purple colours appeared above the horizon at twilight and orange or red near the horizon.
Fatalities
The number of fatalities has been estimated by various sources since the nineteenth century.
| Volcano | Location | Year | Column height (km) |
VEI | N. hemisphere summer anomaly (°C) |
Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taupō Volcano |  New Zealand |
181 | 51 | 7 | ? | unlikely |
| Paektu Mountain |  North Korea |
946 | 25 | 7 | ? | ? |
| Mount Samalas |  Indonesia |
1257 | 38–43 | 7 | −1.2 | ? |
| 1452/1453 mystery eruption | Unknown | 1452 | ? | 7 | −0.5 | ? |
| Huaynaputina |  Peru |
1600 | 46 | 6 | −0.8 | ≈1,400 |
| Mount Tambora | Indonesia |
1815 | 44 | 7 | −0.5 | >71,000 |
| Krakatoa | Indonesia |
1883 | 80 | 6 | −0.3 | 36,600 |
| Santa María Volcano |  Guatemala |
1902 | 34 | 6 | no anomaly | 7,000–13,000 |
| Novarupta |  United States |
1912 | 32 | 6 | −0.4 | 2 |
| Mount St. Helens | United States |
1980 | 24 | 5 | no anomaly | 57 |
| El Chichón |  Mexico |
1982 | 32 | 5 | ? | >2,000 |
| Nevado del Ruiz |  Colombia |
1985 | 27 | 3 | no anomaly | 23,000 |
| Mount Pinatubo |  Philippines |
1991 | 34 | 6 | −0.5 | 1,202 |
| Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai |  Tonga |
2022 | 58 | 5–6 | ? | 6 |
| Sources: Oppenheimer (2003), and Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program | ||||||
Interesting facts about Mount Tambora
- Tambora's eruption is the largest eruption in recorded human history.
- It released 10 to 120 million tons of sulphur into the stratosphere
- The eruption caused a global climate change known as the "volcanic winter"
- The language of the Tambora people was lost with the eruption.
Panorama
Images for kids
-
Mount Tambora and its surroundings as seen from space
-
View of Mount Rinjani from Mount Tambora. Viewing distance is 165 kilometres (103 mi).
-
Plate boundaries of Indonesia, with the location of Mount Tambora to the lower right of "11"
-
Sulfate concentration in ice core from Central Greenland, dated by counting oxygen isotope seasonal variations. There is an unknown eruption around the 1810s.
See also
In Spanish: Tambora para niños
