Despite how much has been learning about the Earth and its more than 1,000 active volcanoes,
several things in the field of volcanology remain a mystery.
For instance, in the last 10,000 years there have been several supermassive volcanic eruptions
which cooled the entire planet, and generated short term volcanic winters.
As an example, the cold snap the world experienced in 44 BC can be traced to the formation of
the massive Okmok Caldera in Alaska.
However, the origin of several other similarly sized recent eruptions remains a mystery.
The most peculiar of these seemingly missing volcanic eruptions is the one in 1808.
That year, a volcanic eruption approximately 50 times the size of the 1980 eruption of
Mount Saint Helens occurred, causing a volcanic haze to travel across the southern hemisphere
of the planet.
Yet, despite the modern world having essentially been explored at the time, the source of this
volcanic eruption remains a mystery.
However, after analyzing all of existing volcanoes, historical accounts, and wind patterns, I
may have finally solved the mystery as to which volcano created this massive eruption.
First, how do we know that a large explosive eruption occurred in 1808?
Whenever a large explosive eruption occurs, significant quantities of sulfur dioxide gas
travel around the planet as they are ejected high into the atmosphere.
They then fall to the ground, and are preserved in layers of glacial ice which can then be
verified.
Note how this section of ice contains two peaks.
The second and larger spike represents the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia,
which caused the year without a summer.
Yet, 7 years beforehand, another eruption approximately half its size occurred but no
one seemed to have noticed.
Since this eruption was so large, it distributed particles of ash around the planet.
This ash has since been analyzed, revealing that the volcano which produced it was andesite
in composition.
Thus, whatever volcano generated the mystery eruption was a stratovolcano, and not a shield
volcano or lava dome complex.
Then, in 2014, a PhD student discovered evidence of this volcanic eruption, allowing where
it occurred on the planet to be narrowed down.
Beginning on December 4th, 1808, scientists recorded an unusual atmospheric haze which
was spotted in both Colombia and Peru.
This haze represent an aerosol of sulfuric acid, which seemingly came from the south
and traveled northwards.
Given the direction of prevailing winds, and the extent of the planet which was explored
at the time, this narrowed down the source of the eruption.
Whatever volcano produced this eruption was located south of the equator between eastern
Indonesia and the nation of Tonga.
Looking around this area, there are more than 100 active volcanoes, several of which have
supermassive calderas.
One of these young looking calderas which was undated was the Tofua volcano, which seemed
to be a perfect match.
Its 6 kilometer deep caldera is a perfect match to the size expected from the 1808 mystery
eruption, and it primarily erupted andesite!
Yet, this caldera was recently dated to a much older age, meaning that it formed in
1040 AD.
Given the location of the atmospheric aerosol veil in 1808, I concluded that an eruption
must have originated around approximately 20 degrees latitude somewhere in the nation
of Tonga.
In 2003, a volcano which appears to be a prefect match was discovered for the first time by
scientists.
This volcano is currently unnamed, but is located at a shallow depth underneath the
ocean surface just 50 kilometers west of the island of Tongatapu.
The main feature of this volcano is a large caldera, which measures 7 kilometers long
and 4.5 kilometers wide.
Surrounding this submarine caldera are very thick layers of ash, which appear to have
been recently deposited as very few signs of erosion were present.
These scientists estimated the age of this massive caldera to be approximately 200 years
old.
Although the evidence of this andesitic volcano's eruption has existed for more than a decade,
no one seemingly made the connection between this submarine volcano and the global mystery
eruption until now.
Based on the caldera's size, it formed in an explosive eruption which ejected between
30 and 50 cubic kilometers of volcanic rock.
This is a perfect match in terms of timing, composition, location, and size for the mystery
eruption.
Thus, I believe this little known volcano to be the source of the 1808 mystery eruption.
I hope that you enjoyed this video.
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