The great 1815 eruption of Tambora and future risks from large-scale volcanism

Gertisser

doi:10.1111/gto.12099

The great 1815 eruption of Tambora and future risks from large-scale volcanism

Gertisser

Authors

Dr Ralf Gertisser r.gertisser@keele.ac.uk

Abstract

The year 2015 marks the bicentenary of the largest eruption in recent historic times: the 10–11 April 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, Indonesia. Two hundred years after the eruption, an incomplete or inaccurate record of large eruptions over the past millennia, and uncertainties in determining the true sizes of eruptions, hamper our ability to predict when the next eruption of this scale may occur. Such events would have catastrophic effects locally and, possibly, world-wide. The problem is compounded by a lack of detailed knowledge of how and over what timescales large magma reservoirs that feed such eruptions grow and assemble, and of the surface manifestations of these processes recorded through geophysical or geochemical monitoring techniques.

Acceptance Date	Jul 31, 2015
Publication Date	Jul 31, 2015
Journal	Geology Today
Print ISSN	0266-6979
Publisher	Wiley
Pages	132 -136
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12099
Keywords	Mount Tambora, volcanism,
Publisher URL	http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gto.12099