KRAKATOA
One of the TOP 10 famous volcanos
Krakatoa, also transcribed Krakatau (Indonesian: Krakatau), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung.
The caldera is part of a volcanic island group comprising four islands: two of which, Lang and Verlaten, are remnants of a previous volcanic edifice destroyed in eruptions long before the famous 1883 eruption; another, Rakata, is the remnant of a much larger island destroyed in the 1883 eruption.
Historical significance
The most notable eruptions of Krakatoa culminated in a series of massive explosions over 26–27 August 1883, which were among the most violent volcanic events in recorded history. With an estimated Volcanic Explosivity Index of 6, the eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT — about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of the Little Boy bomb that devastated Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, and four times the yield of Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated at 50 Mt.
The 1883 eruption ejected approximately 25 km3 (6 cubic miles) of rock. The cataclysmic explosion was heard 3,600 km away in Alice Springs, Australia, and on the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, 4,780 km (2,970 mi) to the west. According to the official records of the Dutch East Indies colony, 165 villages and towns were destroyed near Krakatoa, and 132 were seriously damaged. At least 36,417 people died, and many more thousands were injured, mostly from the tsunamis that followed the explosion. The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa.
The 1883 eruption ejected approximately 25 km3 (6 cubic miles) of rock. The cataclysmic explosion was heard 3,600 km away in Alice Springs, Australia, and on the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, 4,780 km (2,970 mi) to the west. According to the official records of the Dutch East Indies colony, 165 villages and towns were destroyed near Krakatoa, and 132 were seriously damaged. At least 36,417 people died, and many more thousands were injured, mostly from the tsunamis that followed the explosion. The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa.
The origin of the Indonesian name Krakatau is uncertain.
Although there are earlier descriptions of an island in the Sunda Strait with a "pointed mountain," the earliest mention of Krakatoa by name in the western world was on a 1611 map by Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, who labelled the island "Pulo Carcata" (pulo is the Sundanese word for "island").
Biological research
The islands have become a major case study of island biogeography and founder populations in an ecosystem being built from the ground up in an environment virtually cleaned.
The islands had been little studied or biologically surveyed before the 1883 catastrophe — only two pre-1883 biological collections are known: one of plant specimens and the other part of a shell collection. From descriptions and drawings made by HMS Discovery, the flora appears to have been representative of a typical Javan tropical climax forest. The pre-1883 fauna is virtually unknown, but was probably typical of the smaller islands in the area.
The islands had been little studied or biologically surveyed before the 1883 catastrophe — only two pre-1883 biological collections are known: one of plant specimens and the other part of a shell collection. From descriptions and drawings made by HMS Discovery, the flora appears to have been representative of a typical Javan tropical climax forest. The pre-1883 fauna is virtually unknown, but was probably typical of the smaller islands in the area.
Popular culture
A large part of the 1947 children's novel The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois takes place on Krakatoa, where several families have established a wealthy and fanciful colony based on fictional diamond mines on the island. The island was a prominent part of the plot of '"Crack of Doom," episode six of the Irwin Allen television series The Time Tunnel in 1966. It was also featured as the main part of the story line in the 1969 film, Krakatoa, East of Java.
