Mt. St. Helens' 1980 eruption claimed 57 lives and caused widespread damage.
When asked to list the most destructive volcanic eruptions, geologists may ask, "Based on what criteria?" Volcanoes may claim many human lives or claim few lives but cause extensive property damage. An eruption may have a major impact on animal and plant life, with local or global consequences. Although geologists, archaeologists, paleontologists and historians seldom agree on the exact scope, timing and impact, they do agree that the Earth has experienced numerous destructive volcanoes.
Siberian Traps
Approximately 251 million years ago, the Siberian Traps produced a basalt lava flood sufficient to bury the continental United States in thousands of feet of the dark rock. The Siberian Traps expelled lava for at least a million years, and geologists believe it to be the largest flow of lava ever. Paleontologists believe the Siberian Traps eruption is responsible for the largest mass extinction in history, which occurred around the same time and saw 90 percent of all species die out.
Deccan Traps
In what is now India, the Deccan Traps produced a basalt lava flood that covered more than a million square miles. Even after 65 million years of erosion, the lava left behind reaches 1.5 miles in thickness in parts of India. The timing of the eruption coincides with the disappearance of the dinosaurs, leading some paleontologists to believe that the Deccan Traps were responsible for their extinction, either in whole or in part.
Yellowstone
Yellowstone's geysers prove that magma is still present below the ground.
Yellowstone National Park lies within a massive caldera formed by three eruptions over the past 2 million years, including some of the largest eruptions ever to occur on the planet. Yellowstone is what geologists call a "supervolcano," one that is capable of erupting with sufficient force to have a major global impact. Based on Yellowstone's history, geologists estimate that another eruption would bury as much as half of the continental United States under 3 feet of ash.
Toba
In what is now Sumatra, the eruption of Toba approximately 74,000 years ago left a caldera about 1,080 square miles in size. Geneticists theorize that the eruption caused a near-extinction of the human race. Genetic tests show that all humans are descended from fewer than 10,000 ancestors living as recently as the time of the eruption rather than an older, larger population group indicated by fossil evidence.
Tambora
The largest eruption in recorded history was the Tambora eruption of 1815. The volcano is on Sumbawa Island, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. Estimates for the death toll range between 60,000 and 100,000, of whom about 12,000 died as a direct result of the eruption and the balance from the famine and starvation that followed. The gas erupted by the volcano lowered temperatures around the world, and 1816 became known as the "year without a summer."
Thera
Archaeologists theorize that Santorini's inhabitants fled to nearby Crete before the eruption.
Thera, on what is now the Greek island of Santorini, erupted about 3,500 years ago. The eruption, rated as a 7 out of 8 on the volcanic explosive index scale, destroyed much of the island and may be the source of Plato's "Atlantis" story. The eruption triggered pyroclastic flows and tsunamis that archaeologists believe may have doomed the Minoan civilization on nearby Crete.
Pelee
In 1902, St. Pierre was a tourist destination on the island of Martinique. When Mt. Pelee erupted in May of that year, there were only two known survivors out of the 30,000 residents and visitors in the city.
Krakatau
Krakatau, sometimes referred to as Krakatoa, erupted in 1883, killing more than 36,000 people in Java and Sumatra. The eruption is the second-largest Indonesian eruption in recorded history. Only remnants of the three volcanoes that comprised Krakatau Island remained after the eruption.
Pinatubo
Pinatubo's 1991 eruption caused geographical changes that continue to cause mudslides.
Prior to 1991, Pinatubo was a forested area in the Philippines with no historical records of an eruption. In that year, however, the volcano awoke, erupting in one of the largest volcanic events of the 20th century. Although the death toll was low for an eruption, with only about 800 people killed, Pinatubo left an estimated 100,000 homeless and caused $500 million in damages.
Vesuvius
Geologists consider Vesuvius the world's most dangerous volcano, due to the population density.
The eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79 buried the Roman cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, killing more than 10,000 people. During the 1700s archaeologists began excavating the towns, uncovering not only the remains of inhabitants who died in the eruption but well-preserved murals and other works of art. The eruption was recorded by Pliny the Younger, a Roman historian who witnessed the event.
Tags: million years, Siberian Traps, Deccan Traps, eruption recorded, more than, basalt lava
