Krakatoa

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This article is about the volcano. For other uses, see Krakatoa (disambiguation).
Krakatoa
Krakatau
Krakatoa eruption lithograph.jpg
An 1888 lithograph of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.
Highest point
Elevation 813 metres (2,667 ft)
Prominence 813 m (2,667 ft)
Listing Spesial Ribu
Coordinates 6�06'07?S 105�25'23?ECoordinates: 6�06'07?S 105�25'23?E?[1]
Geography
KrakatoaKrakatau is located in Indonesia
KrakatoaKrakatau
Krakatoa
Krakatau
Location within Indonesia
Location Indonesia
Geology
Mountain type Caldera
Last eruption February 2017

Krakatoa, or Krakatau (Indonesian: Krakatau), is a volcanic island situated in the

Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of
Lampung. The name is also used for the surrounding island group comprising the
remnants of a much larger island of three volcanic peaks which was obliterated in a
cataclysmic 1883 eruption.

In 1927, a new island, Anak Krakatau, or "Child of Krakatoa", emerged from the
caldera formed in 1883 and is the current location of eruptive activity.

Contents

1 Historical significance
2 Etymology
3 Geographical setting
4 Pre-1883 history
4.1 416 AD event
4.2 535 AD event
4.3 1680
4.4 Visit by HMS Discovery
4.5 Visit by USS Peacock
4.6 Dutch activity
5 1883 eruption
6 Subsequent volcanism
6.1 Anak Krakatau
6.2 Current activity
7 Biological research
7.1 Botanical studies
7.2 Handl's occupancy
8 Popular culture
9 See also
10 References
10.1 Notes
10.2 Bibliography
11 External links

Historical significance
Further information: 1883 eruption of Krakatoa

The most notable eruptions of Krakatoa culminated in a series of massive explosions

over August 26�27, 1883, which were among the most violent volcanic events in
recorded history.

With an estimated Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 6,[2] the eruption was
equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT (840 PJ)�about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of
the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 kt) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan, during World
War II, and four times the yield of Tsar Bomba (50 Mt), the most powerful nuclear
device ever detonated.

The 1883 eruption ejected approximately 25 km3 (6 cubic miles) of rock.[3] The
cataclysmic explosion was heard 3,600 km (2,200 mi) away in Alice Springs, as well
as on the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, 4,780 km (2,970 mi) to the west.[4]

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.

Eruptions in the area since 1927 have built a new island at the same location,
named Anak Krakatau (which is Indonesian for "Child of Krakatoa"). Periodic
eruptions have continued since, with recent eruptions in 2009, 2010, 2011, and
2012. In late 2011, this island had a radius of roughly 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), and
a highest point of about 324 metres (1,063 ft) above sea level,[5] growing 5 metres
(16 ft) each year.[6] In 2017 the height of Anak Krakatau was reported as over 400
metres above sea level.
Etymology

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"). About two dozen variants have
been found, including Crackatouw, Cracatoa, and Krakatao (in an older Portuguese-
based spelling). The first known appearance of the spelling Krakatau was by Wouter
Schouten, who passed by "the high tree-covered island of Krakatau" in October 1658.
[7]

The origin of the Indonesian name Krakatau is uncertain.[8]

The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program cites the Indonesian name,
Krakatau, as the correct name, but says that Krakatoa is often employed.[6][9][10]
While Krakatoa is more common in the English-speaking world, the Indonesian
Krakatau tends to be favored by others, including geologists.[citation needed]
Geographical setting
The Sunda Strait

Indonesia has over 130 active volcanoes,[11] the most of any nation. They make up
the axis of the Indonesian island arc system produced by northeastward subduction
of the Indo-Australian Plate. A majority of these volcanoes lie along Indonesia's
two largest islands, Java and Sumatra. These two islands are separated by the Sunda
Strait located at a bend in the axis of the island arc. Krakatoa is directly above
the subduction zone of the Eurasian Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate where the
plate boundaries make a sharp change of direction, possibly resulting in an
unusually weak crust in the region.
Pre-1883 history
At some point in prehistory, an earlier caldera-forming eruption had occurred,
leaving as remnants Verlaten (or Sertung); Lang (also known as Rakata Kecil, or
Panjang); Poolsche Hoed ("Polish Hat")[12]; and the base of Rakata. Later, at least
two more cones (Perboewatan and Danan) formed and eventually joined with Rakata,
forming the main island of Krakatoa.[13] At the time of the 1883 eruption, the
Krakatoa group comprised Lang, Verlaten, and Krakatoa itself, an island 9 km (5.6
mi) long by 5 km (3.1 mi) wide. There were also the tree-covered islet near Lang
(Poolsche Hoed) and several small rocky islets or banks between Krakatoa and
Verlaten.

There were three volcanic cones on Krakatoa island: Rakata, (820 m or 2,690 ft) to
the south; Danan, (450 m or 1,480 ft) near the center; and Perboewatan, (120 m or
390 ft) to the north.
416 AD event

The Javanese Book of Kings (Pustaka Raja) records that in the year 338 Saka (416
AD):

A thundering sound was heard from the mountain Batuwara [now called Pulosari,
an extinct volcano in Bantam, the nearest to the Sunda Strait] which was answered
by a similar noise from Kapi, lying westward of the modern Bantam [(Banten) is the
westernmost province in Java, so this seems to indicate that Krakatoa is meant]. A
great glowing fire, which reached the sky, came out of the last-named mountain; the
whole world was greatly shaken and violent thundering, accompanied by heavy rain
and storms took place, but not only did not this heavy rain extinguish the eruption
of the fire of the mountain Kapi, but augmented the fire; the noise was fearful, at
last the mountain Kapi with a tremendous roar burst into pieces and sank into the
deepest of the earth. The water of the sea rose and inundated the land, the country
to the east of the mountain Batuwara, to the mountain Rajabasa [the most southerly
volcano in Sumatra], was inundated by the sea; the inhabitants of the northern part
of the Sunda country to the mountain Rajabasa were drowned and swept away with all
property[14] ... The water subsided but the land on which Kapi stood became sea,
and Java and Sumatra were divided into two parts.

There is no geological evidence of a Krakatoa eruption of this size around that

time; it may describe loss of land which previously joined Java to Sumatra across
what is now the narrow east end of the Sunda Strait; or it may be a mistaken date,
referring to a later eruption in 535 AD, for which there is some corroborating
historical evidence.[15]
535 AD event

David Keys, Ken Wohletz, and others have postulated that a violent volcanic
eruption, possibly of Krakatoa, in 535 may have been responsible for the global
climate changes of 535�536.[15] Keys explores what he believes to be the radical
and far-ranging global effects of just such a putative 6th-century eruption in his
book Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World.
Additionally, in recent times, it has been argued that it was this eruption which
created the islands of Verlaten, Lang, and the beginnings of Rakata�all indicators
of early Krakatoa's caldera's size. To date, however, little datable charcoal from
that eruption has been found.

Thornton mentions that Krakatoa was known as "The Fire Mountain" during Java's
Sailendra dynasty, with records of seven eruptive events between the 9th and 16th
centuries.[16] These have been tentatively dated as having occurred in 850, 950,
1050, 1150, 1320, and 1530.
1680
Satellite view of Krakatau Islands, 18 May 1992

In February 1681, Johann Wilhelm Vogel, a Dutch mining engineer at Salida, Sumatra
(near Padang), on his way to Batavia (modern Jakarta) passed through the Sunda
Strait. In his diary he wrote:

...I saw with amazement that the island of Krakatoa, on my first trip to
Sumatra [June 1679] completely green and healthy with trees, lay completely burnt
and barren in front of our eyes and that at four locations was throwing up large
chunks of fire. And when I asked the ship's Captain when the aforementioned island
had erupted, he told me that this had happened in May 1680 ... He showed me a piece
of pumice as big as his fist.

Vogel spent several months in Batavia, returning to Sumatra in November 1681. On

the same ship were several other Dutch travellers, including Elias Hesse, a writer.
Hesse's journal reports:

...on the 19th [of November 1681] we again lifted anchor and proceeded first to
the north of us to the island of Sleepzie (Sebesi), uninhabited, ... and then still
north of the island of Krakatou, which erupted about a year ago and also is
uninhabited. The rising smoke column of this island can be seen from miles away; we
were with our ship very close to shore and we could see the trees sticking out high
on the mountain, and which looked completely burned, but we could not see the fire
itself.[17]

The eruption was also reported by a Bengali sea captain, who wrote of the event
later, but who had not recorded it at the time in the ship's log.[18] Neither Vogel
nor Hesse mention Krakatoa in any real detail in their other passages, and no other
travelers at the time mention an eruption or evidence of one. (In November 1681, a
pepper crop was being offered for sale by inhabitants.)[19] In 1880, Verbeek
investigated a fresh unweathered lava flow at the northern coast of Perboewatan,
which could not have been more than two centuries old.
Visit by HMS Discovery

In February 1780 the crews of HMS Resolution (1771) and HMS Discovery (1774), on
the way home after Captain James Cook's death in Hawai?i, stopped for a few days on
Krakatoa. They found two springs on the island, one fresh water and the other hot.
They described the natives who then lived on the island as "friendly" and made
several sketches. (In his journal, John Ledyard calls the island "Cocoterra.")
Visit by USS Peacock

Edmund Roberts calls the island Crokatoa in his journal. A paraphrased account
follows: On 8 September 1832, US sloop-of war Peacock anchored off the north end,
also visiting Long Island, in search of inhabitants, fresh water, and yams. It was
found difficult to effect a landing anywhere, owing to a heavy surf and to the
coral having extended itself to a considerable distance from the shore. Hot springs
boiling furiously up, through many fathoms of water, were found on the eastern side
of Krakatoa, 150 feet from the shore. Roberts, Captain Geisinger, and marine
Lieutenant Fowler visited Forsaken island, having mistaken the singing of locusts
for the sound of running water. The boat glided over crystal clear water, over an
extensive and highly beautiful submarine garden. Corals of every shape and hue were
there; some resembling sunflowers and mushrooms; others, cabbages from an inch to
three feet in diameter: while a third bore a striking likeness to the rose. The
hillsides were typical of tropical climate; large flocks of parrots, monkeys in
great variety, wild-mango and orange groves�a superb scene of plants and flowers of
every description, glowing in vivid tints of purple, red, blue, brown, and
green�but not the so-much-needed supply of water and provisions.[20]
Dutch activity

In 1620 the Dutch set up a naval station on the islands and somewhat later a
shipyard was built. Sometime in the late 17th century an attempt was made to
establish a pepper plantation on Krakatoa but the islands were generally ignored by
the Dutch East India Company. In 1809 a penal colony was established at an
unspecified location, which was in operation for about a decade. By the 1880s the
islands were without permanent inhabitants; the nearest settlement was the nearby
island of Sebesi (about 12 km away) with a population of 3,000.

Several surveys and mariners' charts were made, and the islands were little
explored or studied. An 1854 map of the islands was used in an English chart, which
shows some difference from a Dutch chart made in 1874. In July 1880, Rogier
Verbeek, made an official survey of the islands but he was only allowed to spend a
few hours there. He was able to collect samples from several places, and his
investigation proved important in judging the geological impact of the 1883
eruption.[21]:9
1883 eruption
Main article: 1883 eruption of Krakatoa
Two-thirds of the original Krakatoa Island was obliterated by the 1883 eruption
Evolution of the islands around Krakatoa from 1880 to 2005. Note the continuing
growth of Anak Krakatoa after the 1883 event.

While seismic activity around the volcano was intense in the years preceding the
cataclysmic 1883 eruption, a series of lesser eruptions began on May 20, 1883. The
volcano released huge plumes of steam and ash lasting until late August.[22]

On August 27 a series of four huge explosions almost entirely destroyed the island.
The explosions were so violent that they were heard 3,110 km (1,930 mi) away in
Perth, Western Australia, and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, 4,800 km
(3,000 mi) away.[4] The pressure wave from the final explosion was recorded on
barographs around the world. Several barographs recorded the wave seven times over
the course of five days: four times with the wave travelling away from the volcano
to its antipodal point, and three times travelling back to the volcano.[21]:63
Hence, the wave rounded the globe three and a half times. Ash was propelled to a
height of 80 km (50 mi). The sound of the eruption was so loud it was reported that
if anyone was within ten miles (16 km), they would have gone deaf.

The combined effects of pyroclastic flows, volcanic ashes, and tsunamis had
disastrous results in the