Lake Toba
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Lake Toba (Template:Langx, Toba Batak: ᯖᯀᯬ ᯖᯬᯅ; romanized: Tao Toba) is a large natural lake in North Sumatra, Indonesia, occupying the caldera of the Toba supervolcano. The lake is located in the middle of the northern part of the island of Sumatra, with a surface elevation of about Template:Convert, the lake stretches from Template:Coord to Template:Coord. The lake is about Template:Convert long, Template:Convert wide, and up to Template:Convert deep. It is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world.<ref name="WorldLakes">Template:Cite web</ref> Toba Caldera is one of twenty geoparks in Indonesia,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was recognised in July 2020 as one of the UNESCO Global Geoparks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Lake Toba is the site of a supervolcanic eruption estimated at VEI 8 that occurred 69,000 to 77,000 years ago,<ref>Template:Cite gvp</ref><ref name=chesner1991 /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> representing a climate-changing event. Recent advances in dating methods suggest a more accurate eruption date of 74,000 years ago.<ref>Vogel, Gretchen, How ancient humans survived global 'volcanic winter' from massive eruption, Science, 12 March 2018</ref> It is the largest-known explosive eruption on Earth in the last 25 million years. According to the Toba catastrophe theory, the eruption had global consequences for human populations as it killed most humans living at that time and is believed to have created a population bottleneck in central east Africa and India, which affects the genetic make-up of the human worldwide population to the present.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A recent study has cast doubt on this theory and found no evidence of substantial changes in global population.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
It was also suggested that the eruption of the Toba Caldera led to a volcanic winter with a worldwide decrease in temperature between Template:Convert, and up to Template:Convert at higher latitudes. Additional studies in Lake Malawi in East Africa show significant amounts of ash being deposited from the Toba Caldera eruptions, even at that great distance, but little indication of a significant climatic effect in East Africa.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Geology
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The Toba Caldera in North Sumatra comprises four overlapping volcanic craters that adjoin the Sumatran "volcanic front". At Template:Convert it is the world's largest Quaternary caldera, and the fourth and youngest caldera. It intersects the three older calderas. An estimated Template:Cvt of dense-rock equivalent pyroclastic material, known as the youngest Toba tuff, was released during one of the largest explosive volcanic eruptions in recent geological history.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Following this eruption, a resurgent dome formed within the new caldera, joining two half-domes separated by a longitudinal graben.<ref name=chesner1991>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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 (Template:Cvt above sea level) on the south edge of the caldera is solfatarically active.<ref>Template:Cite gvp</ref>
Major eruption
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The Toba eruption (the Toba event) occurred at what is now Lake Toba about 73,700±300 years ago.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It was the last in a series of at least four caldera-forming eruptions at this location, with the earlier known caldera having formed around 1.2 million years ago.<ref name=OregonState/> This last eruption had an estimated VEI of 8, making it the largest-known explosive volcanic eruption in the Quaternary.
Bill Rose and Craig Chesner of Michigan Technological University have estimated that the total amount of material released in the eruption was at least Template:Convert<ref name=USGS>Template:Cite web</ref>—about Template:Convert of ignimbrite that flowed over the ground, and approximately Template:Convert that fell as ash mostly to the west. However, as more outcrops become available, Toba possibly erupted Template:Convert of ignimbrite and co-ignimbrite. The pyroclastic flows of the eruption destroyed an area of least Template:Convert, with ash deposits as thick as Template:Convert by the main vent.<ref name=USGS/> The eruption was large enough to have deposited an ash layer approximately Template:Convert thick over all of South Asia; at one site in central India, the Toba ash layer today is up to Template:Convert thick<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and parts of Malaysia were covered with Template:Convert of ash fall.<ref>Template:Cite book, noted by Weber.</ref>
The subsequent collapse formed a caldera that filled with water, creating Lake Toba. The island in the center of the lake is formed by a resurgent dome.
The exact year of the eruption is unknown, but the pattern of ash deposits suggests that it occurred during the northern summer because only the summer monsoon could have deposited Toba ashfall in the South China Sea.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The eruption lasted perhaps two weeks, and the ensuing volcanic winter resulted in a decrease in average global temperatures by Template:Convert for several years. Ice cores from Greenland record a pulse of starkly reduced levels of organic carbon sequestration. Very few plants or animals in southeast Asia would have survived, and it is possible that the eruption caused a planet-wide die-off. However, the global cooling has been discussed by Rampino and Self. Their conclusion is that the cooling had already started before Toba's eruption. This conclusion was supported by Lane and Zielinski who studied the lake-core from Africa and GISP2. They concluded that there was no volcanic winter after the Toba eruption and that high H2SO4 deposits do not cause long-term effects.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Furthermore, due to the low solubility of sulfur in the magma, the emission of volatiles and climate impacts are likely limited.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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 effects of the Toba eruption may have decreased the size of human populations to only a few tens of thousands of individuals.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However, this hypothesis is not widely accepted because similar effects on other animal species have not been observed, and paleoanthropology suggests there was no population bottleneck.<ref name="argo">Gathorne-Hardy, F. J., and Harcourt-Smith, W. E. H., "The super-eruption of Toba, did it cause a human bottleneck?" Template:Webarchive, Journal of Human Evolution 45 (2003) 227–230.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The genetic bottleneck is now recognized to be the Out-of-Africa founder effect, rather than an actual reduction in population.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
More recent activity
[edit]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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Some parts of the caldera have shown uplift due to partial refilling of the magma chamber, for example, pushing Samosir Island and the Uluan Peninsula above the surface of the lake. The lake sediments on Samosir Island show that it has risen by at least Template:Convert<ref name=OregonState/> since the 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 Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Such earthquakes have also been recorded in 1892, 1916, and 1920–1922.<ref name="OregonState">Stratigraphy of the Toba Tuffs and the evolution of the Toba Caldera Complex, Sumatra, Indonesia</ref>
In 2016, a study revealed that the Toba Supervolcano has a magma chamber containing Template:Convert of eruptible magma, about Template:Convert underground.<ref name="Koulakov_etal_2016">Template:Cite journal</ref> This makes the supervolcano's magma chamber more than four times larger than the volume of Lake Superior in North America, and also larger than the magma chamber underneath Yellowstone.<ref name="bigger">Template:Cite web</ref>
Lake Toba lies near the Great Sumatran fault, which runs along the centre of Sumatra in the Sumatra fracture zone.<ref name=OregonState/> 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 Sumatra has had several major earthquakes since 1995, including the 9.1 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the 8.7 2005 Nias–Simeulue earthquake, the epicenters of which were around Template:Convert from Toba.Template:Citation needed
People
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Most of the people who live around Lake Toba are ethnically Bataks. Traditional Batak houses are noted for their distinctive roofs (which curve upwards at each end, as a boat's hull does) and their colorful decor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Transportation
[edit]Parapat is located on the edge of the lake, which is the transit point to travel the lake and Samosir Island. Medan is about 173 km by road from the town and is connected via the Trans-Sumatran Highway to Pematang Siantar by a 48 km road. Sisingamangaraja XII International Airport is located about 76 km from Parapat.Template:Citation needed
Flora and fauna
[edit]The flora of the lake includes various types of phytoplankton, emerged macrophytes, floating macrophytes, and submerged macrophytes, while the surrounding countryside is rainforest including areas of Sumatran tropical pine forests on the higher mountainsides.<ref name=ILEC>Template:Cite web</ref>
The fauna includes several species of zooplankton and benthic animals. Since the lake is oligotrophic (nutrient-poor), the native fish fauna is relatively scarce, and the only endemics are Rasbora tobana (strictly speaking near-endemic, since also found in some tributary rivers that run into the lake)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Neolissochilus thienemanni, locally known as the Batak fish.<ref name=Saragih>Template:Cite journal</ref> The latter species is threatened by deforestation (causing siltation), pollution, changes in water level and the numerous fish species that have been introduced to the lake.<ref name=Saragih/> Other native fishes include species such as Aplocheilus panchax, Nemacheilus pfeifferae, 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.<ref name=fishbase>FishBase (2012). Species in Toba. Accessed 25 January 2012</ref> 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.<ref name=fishbase/>
Sinking of MV Sinar Bangun
[edit]Template:Main On 18 June 2018, Lake Toba was the scene of a ferry disaster, in which over 160 people drowned.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> MV Sinar Bangun was an irregular operating vessel on the lake which capsized with many passengers on board. The incident caused the death of 167 people and injuries to a number of others. Preliminary reports found the vessel was in operation with irregularities. Ignoring overloading on the vessel and operating in rough weather conditions were concluded to be the main reasons leading to the disaster.
In popular culture
[edit]The Origin of Lake Toba is a folk story about the lake, in which once upon a time, there was a fisherman who caught a golden fish. Samosir Island is believed to be the golden fish's son.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Gallery
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Lake Toba Aerial View
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Aerial view of the southern shore with Sibandang Island visible in the background
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View of the lake with an example of Batak architecture in the foreground
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Traditional Batak house at Ambarita, Lake Toba
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Lake Toba from Tongging Village, near Sipiso-Piso Waterfall
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Lake Toba featured in 1,000-rupiah banknote
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Details of carvings on the prow of a Toba Batak canoe
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The caldera of Lake Toba, with a resurgent dome, forming Samosir Island
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A panoramic partial view of Toba Lake, as seen from the west side to the southeast
See also
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[edit]Further reading
[edit]External links
[edit]- Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia – Volcano.oregonstate.edu Accessed 11 December 2005
- Stanley H. Ambrose, Volcanic Winter, and Differentiation 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
- Magma 'Pancakes' May Have Fueled Toba Supervolcano
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