Krakatoa Infamous Volcanic Eruption: Blast From The Past

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Some melancholy mournings; some enraged rumblings started to increase from an exotic, yet stunning Indonesian isle called Krakatoa in April 1882. A few months later the morning got more boisterous. Passing vessels and ships heard explosions so deafening they could barely talk to one another on the ship.

A vicious shadow of ash dispersed across the blue sky, blocking out the sunlight for a fortnight. Ships were filled with blocks of ash, and the hot volcanic ash had to be scooped away in a dark filled with suffocating sulphurous moisture and air. The sea hurled in bizarre, wide ruts, and as it broke along the seasides of Sumatra and Java it created huge tides that spewed into the coastal colonies.

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Just after 11:30 am on August 28, 1882, Krakatoa was torn apart by one of the most infamous eruptions ever documented. The volcanic eruption was heard 2000 miles (3260km) away in India. The isle collapsed in on itself and was squashed. Some 3 ½ cubic miles (15 sq km) of volcanic debris was released into the air. A massive portion of dust ascended 48 miles (77km) and then circumnavigated the Earth for years, reducing temperatures around the globe. However, it created breathtaking sunsets in a few parts of the world.

More than 34,000 perished. It was not the explosion itself which was so brutal, but the massive swells – tsunamis – that raised over 120ft (37m) lofty as the volcano erupted, and squashed 160 villages along the shores of Sumatra and Java.

The isle is been born from volcanic eruption but had stayed dormant since a similar volcanic activity in 1680. The 1882 outbreak has only ever been transcended in current times by Mount Tambora, on another island in Indonesia, Sumbawa. It isle of Sumbawa erupted in 1814 and released around four times more volcanic debris than Krakatoa.

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Krakatoa’s volcanic eruption, however, got more attention as the news spread in a flash. It exploded in the age of new-age telecommunications, and information about it was spread around the world by cable and telegraph within days. News about the outbreak was collected by scientists and delivered a major push to the analysis and cause of volcanoes, which in turn directed to the current theory of earth’s tectonic shift.

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