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+--- Thread: Humans spared worst of volcanic supereruption 74,000 Years Ago (/thread-10588.html)
Humans spared worst of volcanic supereruption 74,000 Years Ago - C C - Jul 6, 2021
https://www.insidescience.org/news/humans-spared-worst-volcanic-supereruption-74000-years-ago
EXCERPTS: The largest volcanic eruption of the past 2 million years occurred roughly 74,000 years ago in what is now Indonesia. [...] The eruption of the Toba supervolcano on the island of Sumatra expelled roughly 5,300 cubic kilometers (1,300 cubic miles) of magma, a greater volume than Lake Michigan. Ash from the explosion reached an altitude of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles), where it could have blotted out the sun and drastically cooled the Earth for years -- a "volcanic winter."
The eruption took place at a critical point in history, when modern humans were poised to expand more broadly out of Africa. Some researchers have suggested the catastrophe might have influenced the course of human evolution...
[...] However, even given the most severe plausible estimates, the supereruption's effects were likely muted in the Southern Hemisphere, including most of Africa. ... Since modern humans lived in generally clement climates when the supereruption happened, even assuming the highest level of volcanic winter-generating emissions, "there were still not that many freezing days," Black said.
[,,,] The scientists detailed their findings online July 5 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences... (MORE - details)