Mondo Knows Facts
Mount Tambora produced the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history
The 1815 explosion ejecta triggered the famous Year Without a Summer
In April 1815, Mount Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa erupted with a Volcanic Explosivity Index rating of 7. The cataclysm ejected over 100 cubic kilometres of ash and rock into the atmosphere. Aerosol clouds blocked sunlight globally, lowering global temperatures and causing widespread crop failures in 1816.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
Kilauea is one of the world's most active shield volcanoesContinuous eruptions from 1983 to 2018 added hundreds of acres of new landThe tallest active geyser is Steamboat in YellowstoneIts eruptions can throw water more than 100 metres upMauna Kea is the tallest mountain on Earth from base to peakMeasured from its underwater base on the ocean floor it reaches over 10 kilometresMauna Loa is the world's largest active volcano by volumeThis Hawaiian shield volcano contains roughly 75 thousand cubic kilometres of rockIndonesia is the world largest archipelagic stateIndonesia comprises more than seventeen thousand islands stretching along the equator in Southeast Asia.Mars hosts the largest volcano in the solar systemOlympus Mons on Mars stands about two and a half times taller than Mount Everest
Tags: tambora, volcano, indonesia
Mount Tambora produced the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The 1815 explosion ejecta triggered the famous Year Without a Summer. The figure is taken from USGS, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a records & extremes fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.