Toba Lake

         Toba Lake is a tekto-volcanic lake with a length of 100 kilometers and 30 kilometers wide, located in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. This lake is the largest lake in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. In the middle of this lake there is a volcanic island called Pulau Samosir.  It is estimated that Lake Toba was formed when the explosion around 73000-75000 years ago and is the eruption (super volcano) the most recent. Bill Rose and Craig Chesner from Michigan Technological University estimate that the total amount of material at approximately 2,800 km3 eruption-about 2,000 km3 of ignimbrite that flowed over the ground, and about 800 km3 which fell as ash, especially to the west. Pyroclastic flows from the eruption destroyed an area of 20,000 km2, with ash deposits as thick as 600 m to the main crater.

           This incident caused mass death and extinction of some species of living things. According to some DNA evidence, this eruption also reduced the number of people to about 60% of the total human population of the earth at that time, which is about 60 million people. The eruption also caused the ice age, although experts still argue about it. After the eruption, the caldera formed which is then filled with water and became what is now known as Lake Toba. Pressure up by magma that has not come out cause the appearance of the island.

       International multidisciplinary team of researchers, led by Dr. Michael Petraglia, revealed in a press conference in Oxford, the United States has found a new archaeological site that is quite spectacular by geologists in southern and northern India. On the site revealed how people survive, before and after volcanic eruptions (supervolcano) Toba 74,000 years ago, and evidence of life beneath the ashes of Mount Toba. Though the source of eruptions within 3,000 miles, from the distribution of ashes.

          For seven years, experts from Oxford University are researching the ecosystem project in India, to look for evidence of life and lives they left behind equipment in a barren desert. Area with thousands of hectares of this was only the savanna (grasslands). While animal bones scattered. The team concluded, a quite large area turned out covered with dust from ancient volcanic eruptions.

         The spread of volcanic dust was very spacious, found almost all over the world. Derived from an ancient supervolcano eruption, namely Mount Toba. Alleged leads to Mount Toba, because it found evidence of molecular forms of volcanic ash in the same 2100 period. Since caldera crater is now a lake Toba in Indonesia, 3,000 miles, from the source of the eruption. Even that is quite surprising, apparently spread of dust to be recorded up to the North Pole. It is reminiscent of the experts, how powerful the Toba super volcano eruption at the time.