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THE CATACLYSMIC EVENTS OF AUGUST 26-27
After reawakening on May 20, 1883, Krakatau generated mild detonations from Perboewatan throughout May and June. By mid-June the summit crater of Perboewatan had been largely destroyed and the cite of eruption widened to include several new vents near Danan. By mid-July, banks of pumice were common features found floating in the Sunda Straits. However, some of the earliest tephra was basaltic, indicating that recharge of basalt magmas into the magma chamber beneath Krakatau may well have played a role in the intiation of these early eruptions.
Sunday, August 26. At 12:53 p.m., Krakatau delivered the opening salvo to a climactic eruption that would last throughout the evening of August 27. The initial blast generated an ear-shattering fusillade accompanied by a black churning cloud of volcanic debris that rose quickly to 25 km above the island. Over the next several hours, it would widen dramatically to the northeast, rising to a height of at least 36 km. The intensity of the eruptions increased throughout Sunday, frightening the coastal communities of western Sumatra, western Java, and adjacent islands. Later in the day, these villages would be battered by a series of devasting tsunamis generated by pyroclastic flows plunging into the sea. The worst was yet to come.
Monday, August 27. This frightening display of volcanic power would culminate in a series of at least four stupendous eruptions that began at 5:30 a.m., climaxing in a colossal blast that literally blew Krakatau apart. The noise was heard over 4600 km away, throughout the Indian Ocean, from Rodriguez Island and Sri Lanka in the west, to Australia in the east. Two-thirds of the island collapsed beneath the sea into the underlying, partially vacated magma chamber. About 23 square kilometers of the island, including all of Perboewatan and Danan, subsided into a caldera about 6 km across. At an original height of 450 m, Danan had collapsed to depth of 250 m below sealevel.
THE CATACLYSMIC EVENTS OF AUGUST 26-27
After reawakening on May 20, 1883, Krakatau generated mild detonations from Perboewatan throughout May and June. By mid-June the summit crater of Perboewatan had been largely destroyed and the cite of eruption widened to include several new vents near Danan. By mid-July, banks of pumice were common features found floating in the Sunda Straits. However, some of the earliest tephra was basaltic, indicating that recharge of basalt magmas into the magma chamber beneath Krakatau may well have played a role in the intiation of these early eruptions.
Sunday, August 26. At 12:53 p.m., Krakatau delivered the opening salvo to a climactic eruption that would last throughout the evening of August 27. The initial blast generated an ear-shattering fusillade accompanied by a black churning cloud of volcanic debris that rose quickly to 25 km above the island. Over the next several hours, it would widen dramatically to the northeast, rising to a height of at least 36 km. The intensity of the eruptions increased throughout Sunday, frightening the coastal communities of western Sumatra, western Java, and adjacent islands. Later in the day, these villages would be battered by a series of devasting tsunamis generated by pyroclastic flows plunging into the sea. The worst was yet to come.
Monday, August 27. This frightening display of volcanic power would culminate in a series of at least four stupendous eruptions that began at 5:30 a.m., climaxing in a colossal blast that literally blew Krakatau apart. The noise was heard over 4600 km away, throughout the Indian Ocean, from Rodriguez Island and Sri Lanka in the west, to Australia in the east. Two-thirds of the island collapsed beneath the sea into the underlying, partially vacated magma chamber. About 23 square kilometers of the island, including all of Perboewatan and Danan, subsided into a caldera about 6 km across. At an original height of 450 m, Danan had collapsed to depth of 250 m below sealevel.
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