The Largest Volcanic Eruptions
The biggest of recorded history, and the far larger ones from before it
The largest eruptions of the last 2,000 years
These are the biggest explosive eruptions with a solid historical or geological record, by Volcanic Explosivity Index. Volumes are approximate; historical death tolls include famine and disease where these dominated.
| Year | Volcano | Country | VEI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 946 | Paektu (Millennium Eruption) | China / North Korea | 7 | One of the largest eruptions of the last 5,000 years; ash reached Japan. |
| 1257 | Samalas (Rinjani) | Indonesia | 7 | ~40 km³; a leading candidate for the severe global cooling recorded in 1258. |
| 1600 | Huaynaputina | Peru | 6 | The largest eruption in South America in historical time; linked to cold and famine across the Northern Hemisphere in 1601. |
| 1815 | Tambora | Indonesia | 7 | The largest eruption in recorded history. Around 100 km³ of material; roughly 70,000–100,000 deaths including famine; the “year without a summer” in 1816. |
| 1883 | Krakatau | Indonesia | 6 | About 36,000 deaths, most from tsunamis; the explosion was heard ~4,800 km away. |
| 1902 | Santa María | Guatemala | 6 | One of the largest of the 20th century; followed decades later by the Santiaguito lava-dome complex. |
| 1912 | Novarupta | Alaska, USA | 6 | The largest eruption of the 20th century by volume (~13 km³), in a nearly uninhabited area. |
| 1991 | Pinatubo | Philippines | 6 | About 10 km³; its sulfate aerosol cooled global average temperature by roughly 0.5 °C for a year. |
Tambora, 1815
The 1815 eruption of Tambora, on Sumbawa in Indonesia, remains the largest eruption anywhere on Earth in the last several thousand years for which we have a direct record. It removed roughly 1,400 m from the top of the mountain and left a caldera 6 km across.
The sulfur it injected into the stratosphere spread worldwide and dimmed the sun. 1816 became the “year without a summer” in Europe and eastern North America: frost in June, failed harvests, food riots, and — during a wet, dark holiday indoors at Lake Geneva — the writing of Frankenstein. Total deaths, direct and from the famine and disease that followed across the region, are estimated in the range of 70,000 to more than 100,000.
Super-eruptions: VEI 8
Nothing in recorded history approaches the scale of a VEI 8 “super-eruption”, which by definition erupts more than 1,000 km³ of material — at least ten times Tambora. The geological record holds several:
- Toba, Sumatra, ~74,000 years ago — about 2,800 km³, the largest eruption of the last 2 million years.
- Yellowstone, USA — three caldera eruptions at 2.1 million, 1.3 million and 640,000 years ago; the first ejected about 2,500 km³.
- Ōruanui (Taupō), New Zealand, ~25,500 years ago — about 1,170 km³, the most recent known VEI 8.
- La Garita, Colorado, ~28 million years ago — the Fish Canyon Tuff, around 5,000 km³, among the largest known eruptions of all time.
Super-eruptions are rare — very roughly one or two per 100,000 years globally — and none has occurred while humans have kept written records. There is no scientific basis for the claim that any specific volcano is “overdue.”
The other kind of “largest”: lava floods
The VEI measures explosivity, so it misses the largest effusive eruptions — those that pour out lava rather than blast out ash. The 1783–1784 Laki fissure eruption in Iceland released about 14 km³ of lava over eight months and, more importantly, a vast cloud of sulfur dioxide and fluorine. It killed roughly a quarter of Iceland’s population and its livestock, and cold, hazy conditions and crop failures across Europe in the following year or two are attributed to it.
On a far larger scale, flood basalt provinces such as the Deccan Traps (India, ~66 million years ago) and the Siberian Traps (~252 million years ago) erupted millions of cubic kilometres of lava over hundreds of thousands of years, and are linked to the two largest mass extinctions in Earth’s history.
Sources
- Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution — Volcanoes of the World; individual volcano and eruption pages.
- U.S. Geological Survey — “Questions about super-eruptions”, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory; “Novarupta 1912”.
- Oppenheimer, C. (2003). “Climatic, environmental and human consequences of the largest known historic eruption: Tambora volcano (Indonesia) 1815.” Progress in Physical Geography 27(2), 230–259.
- Lavigne, F. et al. (2013). “Source of the great AD 1257 mystery eruption unveiled, Samalas volcano, Rinjani Volcanic Complex, Indonesia.” PNAS 110(42), 16742–16747.
- Thordarson, T. & Self, S. (2003). “Atmospheric and environmental effects of the 1783–1784 Laki eruption.” JGR Atmospheres 108(D1).