Get The Volcano That Changed The World

Volcanic eruptions can profoundly change the landscape, initially through both destructive (flank failure and caldera formation) and constructive (lava flows, domes, and pyroclastic deposits) processes, which destroy vegetation and change the physical nature of the surface (e.g., porosity, permeability, and chemistry).

Earth's Early Atmosphere and Oceans. Volcanic eruptions spewed gases from Earth's interior to the atmosphere, a process called outgassing that continues today. Most of the gas was carbon dioxide and water vapor. The water vapor condensed to form part of Earth's oceans as the surface cooled.

Mount Tambora ejected so much ash and aerosols into the atmosphere that the sky darkened and the Sun was blocked from view.

When Indonesia's Mount Tambora erupted in 1815, it unleashed the most destructive wave of extreme weather the world has witnessed in thousands of years. The volcano's massive sulfate dust cloud enveloped the Earth, cooling temperatures and disrupting major weather systems for more than three years.

Hundreds of articles have been written about the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, at Indonesia's Mt. Tambora just over 200 years ago...

Volcanic eruptions of this magnitude can impact global climate, reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface, lowering temperatures in the troposphere, and changing atmospheric circulation patterns.

Volcanic materials ultimately break down and weather to form some of the most fertile soils on Earth, cultivation of which has produced abundant food and fostered civilizations. The internal heat associated with young volcanic systems has been harnessed to produce geothermal energy.