Lake Toba

Lake Toba (Indonesian: Danau Toba) is a lake and tres above sea level) on the south edge of the caldera is
supervolcano. The lake is 100 kilometres long, 30 kilo- solfatarically active and is a Geology Sanctuary.[7][8]
metres wide, and up to 505 metres (1,666 ft) deep. Located in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian
island of Sumatra with a surface elevation of about 900
metres (2,953 ft), the lake stretches from 253N 9831E
/ 2.88N 98.52E to 221N 9906E / 2.35N 99.1E. It
is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic
lake in the world.[1]
Lake Toba is the site of a massive supervolcanic eruption
estimated at VEI 8 that occurred 69,000 to 77,000 years
ago,[2][3][4] representing a climate-changing event. It is
the largest known explosive eruption on Earth in the last
25 million years. According to the Toba catastrophe theory, it had global consequences for human populations: it
killed most humans living at that time and is believed to
have created a population bottleneck in central east Africa
and India, which aects the genetic make up of the human world-wide population to the present.[5]
It has been accepted that the eruption of Toba led to a
volcanic winter with a worldwide decrease in temperature
between 3 to 5 C (5.4 to 9.0 F), and up to 15 C (27
F) in higher latitudes. Additional studies in Lake Malawi
in East Africa show signicant amounts of ash being deposited from the Toba eruptions, even at that great disPanoramic view of the town of Ambarita on Samosir,
tance, but little indication of a signicant climatic eect
Lake Toba
[6]
in East Africa.

Geology

2 Major eruption

The Toba caldera complex in Northern Sumatra, comprises four overlapping volcanic craters that adjoin the
Sumatran volcanic front. The youngest and fourth
caldera is the worlds largest Quaternary caldera (100
by 30 km (62 by 19 mi)) and intersects the three older
calderas. An estimated 2,800 km3 (670 cu mi) of
dense-rock equivalent pyroclastic material, known as the
youngest Toba tu, was released during one of the largest
explosive volcanic eruptions in recent geological history.
Following this eruption, a resurgent dome formed within
the new caldera, joining two half-domes separated by a
longitudinal graben.[3]

Main article: Toba catastrophe theory

The Toba eruption (the Toba event) occurred at what is
now Lake Toba about 67,500 to 75,500 years ago.[9] It
was the last in a series of at least three caldera-forming
eruptions at this location, with earlier calderas having
formed around 700,000 and 840,000 years ago.[10] This
last eruption had an estimated VEI 8, making it possibly
the largest explosive volcanic eruption within the last 25
million years.
Bill Rose and Craig Chesner of Michigan Technological
University have estimated that the total amount of material released in the eruption was about 2,800 km3 (670 cu
mi)[11] about 2,000 km3 (480 cu mi) of ignimbrite that
owed over the ground, and approximately 800 km3 (190
cu mi) that fell as ash mostly to the west. The pyroclastic
ows of the eruption destroyed an area of 20,000 km2
(7,722 sq mi), with ash deposits as thick as 600 m (1,969

At least four cones, four stratovolcanoes, and three craters

are visible in the lake. The Tandukbenua cone on the
northwestern edge of the caldera has only sparse vegetation, suggesting a young age of several hundred years.
Also, the Pusubukit (Hill Center) volcano (1971 me1

3 PEOPLE
animals in southeast Asia would have survived, and it is
possible that the eruption caused a planet-wide die-o.
Evidence from studies of mitochondrial DNA suggests
that humans may have passed through a genetic bottleneck around this time that reduced genetic diversity
below what would be expected given the age of the
species. According to the Toba catastrophe theory, proposed by Stanley H. Ambrose of the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign in 1998, the eects of the Toba
eruption may have decreased the size of human populations to only a few tens of thousands of individuals.[17]
However, this hypothesis is not widely accepted because
similar eects on other animal species have not been
observed.[18]

Location of Lake Toba shown in red on map.

ft) by the main vent.[11]

2.1 More recent activity

Since the major eruption ~70,000 years ago, eruptions of
smaller magnitude have also occurred at Toba. The small
cone of Pusukbukit formed on the southwestern margin
of the caldera and lava domes. The most recent eruption may have been at Tandukbenua on the northwestern caldera edge, suggested by a lack of vegetation that
could be due to an eruption within the last few hundred
years.[19]

The eruption was large enough to have deposited an ash

layer approximately 15 cm (5.9 in) thick over all of South
Asia; at one site in central India, the Toba ash layer today is up to 6 m (20 ft) thick[12] and parts of Malaysia
were covered with 9 m (30 ft) of ash fall.[13] In addition
it has been variously calculated that 10,000 million tonnes
(1.11010 short tons) of sulfurous acid[14] or 6,000 million tonnes (6.6109 short tons) of sulfur dioxide[15] were Some parts of the caldera have shown uplift due to partial relling of the magma chamber, for example, pushing
ejected into the atmosphere by the event.
Samosir Island and the Uluan Peninsula above the surface
The subsequent collapse formed a caldera that, after llof the lake. The lake sediments on Samosir Island show
ing with water, created Lake Toba. The island in the centhat it has risen by at least 450 m (1,476 ft)[10] since the
ter of the lake is formed by a resurgent dome.
cataclysmic eruption. Such uplifts are common in very
large calderas, apparently due to the upward pressure of
below-ground magma. Toba is probably the largest resurgent caldera on Earth. Large earthquakes have recently
occurred in the vicinity of the volcano, notably in 1987
along the southern shore of the lake at a depth of 11 km
(6.8 mi).[20] Such earthquakes have also been recorded in
1892, 1916, and 19201922.[10]
Lake Toba lies near the Great Sumatran fault, which
runs along the centre of Sumatra in the Sumatra Fracture
Zone.[10] The volcanoes of Sumatra and Java are part of
the Sunda Arc, a result of the northeasterly movement
of the Indo-Australian Plate, which is sliding under the
eastward-moving Eurasian Plate. The subduction zone in
this area is very active: the seabed near the west coast of
Landsat photo of Sumatra surrounding Lake Toba
Sumatra has had several major earthquakes since 1995,
including the 9.1 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and the
The exact year of the eruption is unknown, but the pattern 8.7 2005 Sumatra earthquake, the epicenters of which
of ash deposits suggests that it occurred during the north- were around 300 km (190 mi) from Toba.
ern summer because only the summer monsoon could
have deposited Toba ashfall in the South China Sea.[16]
The eruption lasted perhaps two weeks, and the ensuing
volcanic winter resulted in a decrease in average global 3 People
temperatures by 3.0 to 3.5 C (5 to 6 F) for several years.
Greenland ice cores record a pulse of starkly reduced lev- Most of the people who live around Lake Toba are ethniels of organic carbon sequestration. Very few plants or cally Bataks. Traditional Batak houses are noted for their

3
distinctive roofs (which curve upwards at each end, as a Toba.
boats hull does) and their colorful decor.[21]

Flora and fauna

The ora of the lake includes various types of

phytoplankton, emerged macrophytes, oating macrophytes, and submerged macrophytes, while the surrounding countryside is rainforest including areas of Sumatran
tropical pine forests on the higher mountainsides.[22]
The fauna includes several species of zooplankton and
benthic animals. Since the lake is oligotrophic (nutrientpoor), the native sh fauna is relatively scarce, and the
only endemics are Rasbora tobana (strictly speaking nearendemic, since also found in some tributary rivers that
run into the lake)[23] and Neolissochilus thienemanni, locally known as the Batak sh.[24] The latter species is
threatened by deforestation (causing siltation), pollution,
changes in water level and the numerous sh species that
have been introduced to the lake.[24] Other native shes
include species such as Aplocheilus panchax, Nemacheilus
pfeierae, Homaloptera gymnogaster, Channa gachua,
Channa striata, Clarias batrachus, Barbonymus gonionotus, Barbonymus schwanenfeldii, Danio albolineatus, Osteochilus vittatus, Puntius binotatus, Rasbora
jacobsoni, Tor tambra, Betta imbellis, Betta taeniata
and Monopterus albus.[25] Among the many introduced
species are Anabas testudineus, Oreochromis mossambicus, Oreochromis niloticus, Ctenopharyngodon idella,
Cyprinus carpio, Osphronemus goramy, Trichogaster pectoralis, Trichopodus trichopterus, Poecilia reticulata and
Xiphophorus hellerii.[25]

5 Gallery
Lake Toba Aerial View
Aerial view of the southern shore with Sibandang
Island visible in the background
View of the lake with an example of Batak architecture in the foreground.
Traditional Batak house at Ambarita, Lake Toba
Sipiso-Piso Waterfall
Lake Toba from Tongging Village, near Sipiso-Piso
Waterfall
Lake Toba featured in 1,000-rupiah banknote

6 See also
List of lakes in Indonesia
List of volcanoes in Indonesia

7 References
[1] Worldlakes.org
[2] Global Volcanism Program page on Toba
[3] Chesner, C.A.;
Westgate, J.A.;
Rose, W.I.;
Drake, R.; Deino, A. (March 1991).
Eruptive
history of Earths largest Quaternary caldera
(Toba, Indonesia) claried.
Geology (Michigan Technological University) 19 (3):
200203.
Bibcode:1991Geo....19..200C.
doi:10.1130/00917613(1991)019<0200:EHOESL>2.3.CO;2. Retrieved
2008-08-23.
[4] Ninkovich, D.; N.J. Shackleton, A.A. Abdel-Monem, J.D.
Obradovich, G. Izett (7 December 1978). KAr age
of the late Pleistocene eruption of Toba, north Sumatra.
Nature (Nature Publishing Group) 276 (276): 574577.
Bibcode:1978Natur.276..574N. doi:10.1038/276574a0.
[5] When humans faced extinction. BBC. 2003-06-09. Retrieved 2007-01-05.

Panoramic view of Parapat from Samosir Island, Lake

[6] Lane, Christine S.; Ben T. Chorn; Thomas C. Johnson

(29 April 2013). Ash from the Toba supereruption in
Lake Malawi shows no volcanic winter in East Africa at
75 ka. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
110 (20): 80258029. Bibcode:2013PNAS..110.8025L.
doi:10.1073/pnas.1301474110.

EXTERNAL LINKS

[7] Synonyms and Subfeatures: Toba. Global Volcanism

Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved December
13, 2008.

[23] Lumbantobing, D. N. (2010). Four New Species of the

Rasbora trifasciata-Group (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from
Northwestern Sumatra, Indonesia. Copeia 4: 644-670

[8] Gunung Pusukbuhit. March 3, 2013.

[24] Saragih, B., and S. Sunito (2001). Lake Toba: Need for
an integrated management system. Lakes & Reservoirs:
Research & Management 6(3): 247251.

[9] Zielinski, G. A.; P.A. Mayewski, L.D. Meeker, S.

Whitlow, M. Twickler and K. Taylor (1996). Potential Atmospheric impact of the Toba mega-eruption
~71,000 years ago.
Geophysical Research Letters
(United States: American Geophysical Union) 23
Bibcode:1996GeoRL..23..837Z.
(8):
837840.
doi:10.1029/96GL00706.
[10] Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia. Oregon State University.]
[11] Supersized eruptions are all the rage!". USGS. April 28,
2005.
[12] Acharyya, S.K.; Basu, P.K. (1993).
Toba ash
on the South Asia and its implications for correlation of late pleistocene alluvium. Quaternary Research 40 (1): 1019. Bibcode:1993QuRes..40...10A.
doi:10.1006/qres.1993.1051.
[13] Scrivenor, John Brooke (1931). The Geology of Malaya.
London: MacMillan. OCLC 3575130., noted by Weber.
[14] Huang, C.Y.; Zhao, M.X.; Wang, C.C.; Wei, G.J.
(2001). Cooling of the South China Sea by the
Toba Eruption and correlation with other climate proxies 71,000 years ago. Geophysical Research Letters
28 (20): 39153918. Bibcode:2001GeoRL..28.3915H.
doi:10.1029/2000GL006113.
[15] Robock, A.; C.M. Ammann; L. Oman; D. Shindell; S. Levis; G. Stenchikov (2009). Did the Toba
volcanic eruption of ~74k BP produce widespread
glaciation?".
Journal of Geophysical Research
114:
D10107.
Bibcode:2009JGRD..11410107R.
doi:10.1029/2008JD011652.
[16] Bhring, C.; Sarnthein, M.; Leg 184 Shipboard Scientic
Party (2000). Toba ash layers in the South China Sea:
evidence of contrasting wind directions during eruption
ca. 74 ka.. Geology 28 (3): 275278. doi:10.1130/00917613(2000)028<0275:TALITS>2.3.CO;2.
[17] Yellowstone Is a Supervolcano?". Biot Reports (Suburban Emergency Management Project) (164). January 11,
2005. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
[18] Gathorne-Hardy, F. J., and Harcourt-Smith, W. E. H.,
The super-eruption of Toba, did it cause a human bottleneck?", Journal of Human Evolution 45 (2003) 227230.
[19] Toba volcano (Indonesia, Sumatra)". VolcanoDiscovery.com.
[20] Signicant Earthquakes of the World. United States Geological Survey (USGS).
[21] Batak People. IndonesianMusic.com.
[22] Danau Toba (Lake Toba)". International Lake Environment Committee.

[25] FishBase (2012). Species in Toba. Accessed 25 January

2012

8 Additional reading
Rampino, Michael R. and Stephen Self (1993).
Climate-volcanism feedback and the Toba eruption of 74,000 Years Ago. Quaternary Research
40 (3): 269280. Bibcode:1993QuRes..40..269R.
doi:10.1006/qres.1993.1081.
Vazquez, Jorge A. and Mary R. Reid (2004).
Probing the accumulation history of the voluminous Toba Magma. Science 305 (5686):
991994.
Bibcode:2004Sci...305..991V.
doi:10.1126/science.1096994. PMID 15310899.
Petraglia, M. et al. (2007). Middle Paleolithic
Assemblages from the Indian Subcontinent Before
and After the Toba Super-Eruption. Science 317
(5834): 114116. Bibcode:2007Sci...317..114P.
doi:10.1126/science.1141564. PMID 17615356.

9 External links
Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia Volcano.umd.edu Accessed 11 December 2005
Stanley H. Ambrose, Volcanic Winter, and Dierentiation of Modern Humans Accessed 11 December
2005
Joel Achenbach, Who Knew, National Geographic
Accessed 11 December 2005
(Lake Toba Ecosystem Management Plan) From
laketoba.org
Lake Toba travel guide from Wikivoyage

10
10.1

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Lake Toba Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake%20Toba?oldid=645574716 Contributors: The Epopt, Mav, Tarquin, William Avery, Olivier, Rickyrab, Leandrod, Ixfd64, Chmouel, Seav, (, 168..., Stan Shebs, Docu, Jpatokal, Ferdybossy, DropDeadGorgias, Jll,
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