Kuwae
Encyclopedia
Kuwae is a submarine caldera
between Epi
and Tongoa islands. Kuwae Caldera cuts through the flank of the Tavani Ruru volcano on Epi and the northwest end of Tongoa.
The submarine volcano
Karua, one of the most active volcanoes of Vanuatu
, is near the northern rim of Kuwae Caldera.
in between (but the story tells of an eruption south of Tongoa). Collapse associated with caldera formation may have been as much as 1,100 m. 32–39 cubic km of magma was erupted, making the Kuwae eruption one of the largest in the last 10,000 years.
In Antarctica and Greenland ice core
s a major eruption or series of eruptions is revealed as a spike in sulfate
concentration showing that the release in form of particles was higher than any other eruption since. Also the ice core analyses are able to pinpoint the event to late 1452 or early 1453. This volume of expelled matter is more than six times larger than that of the 1991 Pinatubo eruption and would have caused severe cooling of the entire planet the following three years. The link between the sulphur spike and the Kuwae caldera is questioned in a 2007 study by Károly Németh et al. proposing the Tofua
caldera as an alternative source candidate.
s of 0 to 3. The latest confirmed eruption occurred Feb 4 1974 ± 4 days. It had a VEI of 0, and was a submarine eruption that formed a new island.
Islands have regularly formed in Kuwae caldera
. The 1897–1901 eruption built an island 1 km long and 15 m high. It disappeared within 6 months. The 1948–1949 eruption formed an island and built a cone 1.6 km in diameter and 100 m high. This island also lasted less than one year. All the islands have disappeared due to wave action and caldera
floor movements. In 1959 the island reappeared for a short time, and again in 1971. The last structure remained an island until 1975.
Activity at present at Kuwae is confined to intermittent fumaroles activity which stain the water yellow. Over the top of the volcano hydrogen sulfide
bubbles reach the surface.
drew on evidence found in tree rings
, ice cores and in the historic records of civilizations in Europe and China. Oak panels of British portrait paintings had abnormally narrow rings in 1453–55.
In Sweden
, grain tithes fell to zero as the crops failed; western U.S. bristlecone pine
s show frost damage in 1453; and the growth of European and Chinese trees was stunted in 1453–57.
According to the history of the Ming Dynasty
in China
in the spring of 1453, "Nonstop snow damaged wheat crops." Later that year, as the dust obscured the sunlight, "Several feet of snow fell in six provinces; tens of thousands of people froze to death."
Early in 1454, "it snowed for 40 days south of the Yangtze River and countless died of cold and famine." Lakes and rivers were frozen, and the Yellow Sea
was icebound out to 20 km from shore.
The eruption occurred just before the Fall of Constantinople
, the last bastion of the once-mighty Byzantine Empire
. The Ottoman Turks
, led by Sultan Mehmed II
, laid siege to the city on April 5, 1453, and conquered it on May 29. Pang found mention of the volcano's aftereffects in chronicles of the city's last days. Historians noted the city's gardens that spring produced very little. On May 25, a thunderstorm burst on the city: "It was impossible to stand up against the hail, and the rain came down in such torrents that whole streets were flooded". On the night of May 22, 1453, the moon, symbol of Constantinople, rose in dark eclipse
, fulfilling a prophecy of the city's demise. Four days later, the whole city was blotted out by a thick fog, a condition unknown in that part of the world in May. When the fog lifted that evening, "flames engulfed the dome of the Hagia Sophia
, and lights, too, could be seen from the walls, glimmering in the distant countryside far behind the Turkish camp (to the west)," historians noted. Residents of the city thought the strange light was due to reflection from a fire set by the Turkish attackers. Pang said, however, such a "fire" was an optical illusion due to the reflection of intensely red twilight glow by clouds of volcanic ash
high in the atmosphere. Many such false fire alarms were reported worldwide after the 1883 Krakatoa
eruption in Indonesia.
"I conclude that Kuwae erupted in early 1453," Pang said. "The residual volcanic cloud could have made the apocalyptic June 1456 apparition of the Comet Halley
look 'red' with a 'golden' tail, as reported by contemporary astronomers."
Caldera
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...
between Epi
Epi (island)
Epi is the name of an island in Vanuatu, at the north end of the Shepherd Islands. It is in Shefa Province. It is long northwest-southeast, and wide, with an area of . Its shoreline measures 130 km...
and Tongoa islands. Kuwae Caldera cuts through the flank of the Tavani Ruru volcano on Epi and the northwest end of Tongoa.
The submarine volcano
Submarine volcano
Submarine volcanoes are underwater fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. They are estimated to account for 75% of annual magma output. The vast majority are located near areas of tectonic plate movement, known as ocean ridges...
Karua, one of the most active volcanoes of Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
, is near the northern rim of Kuwae Caldera.
Eruptive History
Tongoa and Epi islands once formed part of a larger island called Kuwae. Local folklore tells of a cataclysmic eruption that destroyed this island, leaving the two smaller islands and an oval-shaped 12 x 6 km calderaCaldera
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...
in between (but the story tells of an eruption south of Tongoa). Collapse associated with caldera formation may have been as much as 1,100 m. 32–39 cubic km of magma was erupted, making the Kuwae eruption one of the largest in the last 10,000 years.
In Antarctica and Greenland ice core
Ice core
An ice core is a core sample that is typically removed from an ice sheet, most commonly from the polar ice caps of Antarctica, Greenland or from high mountain glaciers elsewhere. As the ice forms from the incremental build up of annual layers of snow, lower layers are older than upper, and an ice...
s a major eruption or series of eruptions is revealed as a spike in sulfate
Sulfate
In inorganic chemistry, a sulfate is a salt of sulfuric acid.-Chemical properties:...
concentration showing that the release in form of particles was higher than any other eruption since. Also the ice core analyses are able to pinpoint the event to late 1452 or early 1453. This volume of expelled matter is more than six times larger than that of the 1991 Pinatubo eruption and would have caused severe cooling of the entire planet the following three years. The link between the sulphur spike and the Kuwae caldera is questioned in a 2007 study by Károly Németh et al. proposing the Tofua
Tofua
Tofua Caldera, in Tonga, is the summit caldera of a steep-sided composite cone that forms Tofua Island. Tofua Island is in Tonga's Ha'apai island group. Pre-caldera activity is recorded by a sequence of pyroclastic deposits and lavas constituting the older cone, followed on the northern part of the...
caldera as an alternative source candidate.
Recent activity
Following the eruption c. AD 1452 eruption, Kuwae caldera has had several eruptions, all of which have been smaller, and have had VEIVolcanic Explosivity Index
The Volcanic Explosivity Index was devised by Chris Newhall of the U.S. Geological Survey and Stephen Self at the University of Hawaii in 1982 to provide a relative measure of the explosiveness of volcanic eruptions....
s of 0 to 3. The latest confirmed eruption occurred Feb 4 1974 ± 4 days. It had a VEI of 0, and was a submarine eruption that formed a new island.
Islands have regularly formed in Kuwae caldera
Caldera
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...
. The 1897–1901 eruption built an island 1 km long and 15 m high. It disappeared within 6 months. The 1948–1949 eruption formed an island and built a cone 1.6 km in diameter and 100 m high. This island also lasted less than one year. All the islands have disappeared due to wave action and caldera
Caldera
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...
floor movements. In 1959 the island reappeared for a short time, and again in 1971. The last structure remained an island until 1975.
Activity at present at Kuwae is confined to intermittent fumaroles activity which stain the water yellow. Over the top of the volcano hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless, very poisonous, flammable gas with the characteristic foul odor of expired eggs perceptible at concentrations as low as 0.00047 parts per million...
bubbles reach the surface.
Climatic consequences of the 1452 - 1453 event
A study by Dr Kevin Pang of the Jet Propulsion LaboratoryJet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
drew on evidence found in tree rings
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
, ice cores and in the historic records of civilizations in Europe and China. Oak panels of British portrait paintings had abnormally narrow rings in 1453–55.
In Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, grain tithes fell to zero as the crops failed; western U.S. bristlecone pine
Bristlecone pine
The bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years....
s show frost damage in 1453; and the growth of European and Chinese trees was stunted in 1453–57.
According to the history of the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in the spring of 1453, "Nonstop snow damaged wheat crops." Later that year, as the dust obscured the sunlight, "Several feet of snow fell in six provinces; tens of thousands of people froze to death."
Early in 1454, "it snowed for 40 days south of the Yangtze River and countless died of cold and famine." Lakes and rivers were frozen, and the Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
was icebound out to 20 km from shore.
The eruption occurred just before the Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
, the last bastion of the once-mighty Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. The Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...
, led by Sultan Mehmed II
Mehmed II
Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from...
, laid siege to the city on April 5, 1453, and conquered it on May 29. Pang found mention of the volcano's aftereffects in chronicles of the city's last days. Historians noted the city's gardens that spring produced very little. On May 25, a thunderstorm burst on the city: "It was impossible to stand up against the hail, and the rain came down in such torrents that whole streets were flooded". On the night of May 22, 1453, the moon, symbol of Constantinople, rose in dark eclipse
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer...
, fulfilling a prophecy of the city's demise. Four days later, the whole city was blotted out by a thick fog, a condition unknown in that part of the world in May. When the fog lifted that evening, "flames engulfed the dome of the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
, and lights, too, could be seen from the walls, glimmering in the distant countryside far behind the Turkish camp (to the west)," historians noted. Residents of the city thought the strange light was due to reflection from a fire set by the Turkish attackers. Pang said, however, such a "fire" was an optical illusion due to the reflection of intensely red twilight glow by clouds of volcanic ash
Volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
high in the atmosphere. Many such false fire alarms were reported worldwide after the 1883 Krakatoa
Krakatoa
Krakatoa is a volcanic island made of a'a lava in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The name is used for the island group, the main island , and the volcano as a whole. The island exploded in 1883, killing approximately 40,000 people, although some estimates...
eruption in Indonesia.
"I conclude that Kuwae erupted in early 1453," Pang said. "The residual volcanic cloud could have made the apocalyptic June 1456 apparition of the Comet Halley
Comet Halley
Halley's Comet or Comet Halley is the best-known of the short-period comets, and is visible from Earth every 75 to 76 years. Halley is the only short-period comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the only naked-eye comet that might appear twice in a human lifetime...
look 'red' with a 'golden' tail, as reported by contemporary astronomers."
See also
- Climate changes of 535–536Climate changes of 535–536The extreme weather events of 535–536 were the most severe and protracted short-term episodes of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years. The event is thought to have been caused by an extensive atmospheric dust veil, possibly resulting from a large volcanic eruption in the...
- Year Without a SummerYear Without a SummerThe Year Without a Summer was 1816, in which severe summer climate abnormalities caused average global temperatures to decrease by about 0.4–0.7 °C , resulting in major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere...
- Timetable of major worldwide volcanic eruptionsTimetable of major worldwide volcanic eruptionsThis article is a list of volcanic eruptions of approximately at least magnitude 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index or equivalent sulfur dioxide emission around the Quaternary period. Some cooled the global climate; the extent of this effect depends on the amount of sulfur dioxide emitted...