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The Largest Volcano Eruptions | John Seach
The size of volcanic eruptions is determined by the amount of lava emitted. The largest eruption over the past 2 centuries was Tambora in Indonesia in 1815.
Large volcanic eruptions are more frequent than asteroid impacts of similar magnitude.
Table 1. Examples of large eruptions in past 10,000 years.
| Volcano
|
Country
|
Year
|
Cubic km erupted
|
| 1815
|
100
| ||
| 186
AD |
100
| ||
| 6640 BC
|
70-80
| ||
| 3450 yr ago
|
50
| ||
| 6850 ago
|
30-40
| ||
| 6300 ago
|
30-40
| ||
| 1425
|
32-39
| ||
| 3600 ago
|
30-33
| ||
| 50
AD |
19-25
| ||
| Krakatau | Indonesia | 1883 | 18-21 |
1912 |
12 |
||
536 AD |
11 |
||
1991 |
10 |
Table 2. Large ancient eruptions
Volcano |
Country |
Years ago |
Cubic km erupted
|
| Fish Canyon
|
28 million
|
5000
| |
| Toba | Indonesia | 72,000 | 2800 |
1.3 million |
1000 |
||
26 000 |
800 |
||
760,000 |
600 |
||
Table 3. Large recent eruptions.
Volcano |
Country |
Year |
Cubic km erupted |
1983-present (effusive) |
3 |
||
1985 |
1.4 |
||
1980 |
1 |
||
2008 |
1 |
||
1991 |
1 |
||
2022 |
0.5-1.0 |
Further reading
Pyle, D.M., 2015. Sizes of volcanic eruptions. In The encyclopedia of volcanoes (pp. 257-264). Academic Press.
Bryan, Scott E., et al. "The largest volcanic eruptions on Earth." Earth-Science Reviews 102.3-4 (2010): 207-229.
Mason, B.G., Pyle, D.M. and Oppenheimer, C., 2004. The size and frequency of the largest explosive eruptions on Earth. Bulletin of Volcanology, 66(8), pp.735-748.