Mount Tambora Day - April 10

On this date in 1815 Mount Tambora erupted, unleashing perhaps the worst volcano in human history. Direct deaths from the eruption were bad, perhaps 10,000 people, but it's estimated that it indirectly led to an order of magnitude more. It also had one of the highest Volcanic Explosivity Index (yes that's really a thing) in history, a 7.

I wouldn't want to live near one, but volcanoes are one of our planet's most awe-inspiring spectacles.

Pierre Markuse from Hamm, Germany, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons


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