August 27, 1883 Eruption of Krakatau

Reference #1412 and #9675:

1883, August 26. >36,417 deaths. Although all recorded deaths have commonly been attributed to the devastating tsunamis, an estimated 2,000 were killed on southern Sumatra by "hot ashes" and there is clear evidence that pyroclastic flows reached that far. All 3,150 people in the path of these flows, on islands between Krakatau and Sumatra were killed; probably most by early tsunami but surely none survived the culminating eruption at 1000 on Aug 27. Various indirect causes killed a small number elsewhere. Unknown number injured, 165 villages completely destroyed. 132 partly destroyed.

Reference #2432:

The renowned volcano Krakatau (frequently misstated as Krakatoa) lies in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. Collapse of the ancestral Krakatau edifice, perhaps in 416 AD, formed a 7-km-wide caldera. Remnants of this ancestral volcano are preserved in Verlaten and Lang Islands; subsequently Rakata, Danan and Perbuwatan volcanoes were formed, coalescing to create the pre-1883 Krakatau Island. Caldera collapse during the catastrophic 1883 eruption destroyed Danan and Perbuwatan volcanoes, and left only a remnant of Rakata volcano. This eruption, the 2nd largest in Indonesia during historical time, caused more than 36,000 fatalities, most as a result of devastating tsunamis that swept the adjacent coastlines of Sumatra and Java. Pyroclastic surges traveled 40 km across the Sunda Strait and reached the Sumatra coast. After a quiescence of less than a half century, the post-collapse cone of Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) was constructed within the 1883 caldera at a point between the former cones of Danan and Perbuwatan. Anak Krakatau has been the site of frequent eruptions since 1927.

Start date of eruption: 1883 May 20

Stop date of eruption: 1883 Oct 21 (?)

Reference #9779:

Krakatau (or Krakatoa), an island volcano lying in the Sunda Straits between Java and Sumatra at 6o S, erupted violently on August 26 and 27, 1883. The Krakatau eruption was also an ignimbriteforming event, although the pyroclasticflow deposits and associated airfall ash were of much smaller volume than the Tambora eruption. The magma was dacitic in composition (65% to 68% Si02). The volume of the near-source Krakatau deposits (largely pyroclastic-flow deposits) is estimated to be about 12 km3. The voluminous pyroclastic flows entered the sea where they generated a tsunami, and may have produced secondary explosions. The eruption column is reported to have been up to 80 km high, but about 40 km seems a more likely estimated based on eruption dynamics.