PBS Nova: Mystery of the Megavolcano (1974)

Posted By: shuchu14

Date: May 7, 2010

A remote lake in Southeast Asia conceals evidence of Earth s greatest volcanic cataclysm of the last 100000 years. Miles beneath its placid surface lies a magma chamber that exploded so violently during the Ice Age that gases and ash may have encircled the globe and blotted out the sun for years on end. The Toba eruption may have helped kick the climate into an unprecedented freeze and perhaps even pushed ancestral human populations to the brink of extinction. In a classic science detective story NOVA pieces together the clues about this great catastrophe and probes questions raised about human evolution and Earth s fragile ecosystems.

NOVA joins four scientists in their global pursuit of clues to a massive volcanic eruption that appears to have had a devastating impact on the Earth 75,000 years ago. And if they're right, the ancient supervolcano—and others like it—may someday reawaken, with catastrophic consequences for our modern world. Now, an array of clues—scattered ashes and ice cores, tiny ocean creatures and steaming lakeside rocks—are brought together to solve the "Mystery of the Megavolcano."

The destructive power unleashed by supervolcanoes goes far beyond that of any eruption in recorded human history. Picture an eruption blasting 10 miles into the stratosphere, raining down ash and rock over an entire continent. Picture a worldwide fog of sulfuric acid droplets released high into the atmosphere, dimming the sun and plunging the Earth into a global "volcanic winter." These monsters lurking within Earth's crust dwarf the likes of Vesuvius, Pinatubo, and Mount St. Helens. And they are hiding all around us, in Italy, New Zealand, Japan, even the United States (see Blasts From the Past).

SCREENSHOTS

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