Almost 800 years ago, a disaster, which was first written about and then forgotten, created the "Pompeii of the Far East", waiting for their explorers on the Indonesian island. The source of the ash, which was scattered from pole to pole, is the Samalas volcano on the island of Lombok. Frank Lavigne of the Paris-1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University and his colleagues date the cataclysm from May to October 1257.
The search took thirty years: first, glaciologists found ash in glaciers, then volcanologists got down to business, who had to go around the whole world, from New Zealand's Okatina to Mexican El Chichon. It is estimated that the power of the eruption was eight times that of Krakatoa in 1883 and twice that of Tambora in 1815.
An interdisciplinary research team combined the insights obtained at that time with radiocarbon dating data, the results of studying the chemical composition of volcanic rocks, stratigraphic information and information from historical sources. “The problem was that the eruption was studied by researchers from different specialties who did not cooperate with each other,” explains Mr. Lavigne. - And we have brought together geologists, geochemists, geographers, historians, radiocarbon dating specialists and many others into one team. We set a good example for all other projects."
The disaster resulted in the release of 40 km³ of material to an altitude of 43 km. It was scattered all over the world, and thick deposits formed near the volcano itself, samples of which the researchers took in more than 130 places to create a stratigraphic and sedimentological picture of the eruption.
The date of the cataclysm was clarified thanks to the charred trunks and branches of trees on the slopes of the Samalas and Rinjani volcanoes. Previously it was assumed that the eruption took place in the middle of the XIII century. Indeed, no samples younger than 1257 have been found. The dating excluded El Chichon and Ocataina from the list of candidates.
Next, the distribution of volcanic sulphates and tephra in ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica has shown what to look for in the tropics. It would seem that the Ecuadorian Quilotoa (a huge caldera formed at about the same time) and the volcanic Lake Segara Anak on Lombok Island are excellent candidates, but no, geochemical analysis showed that the content of the cores is much closer to the material of Samalas.
The eruption was so large that, according to Mr. Lavigne, the climate was affected by it for two years. This is evidenced by tree rings, climatic models and historical sources, including European ones. Thus, medieval chroniclers complained about the exceptionally cold summer of 1258 (“a year without summer”) with poor harvests and endless rains that caused devastating floods. At the same time, the winter immediately following the eruption was, on the contrary, warm, which was to be expected after a large amount of sulfur from the tropics entered the atmosphere. A chronicler from Arras in northern France noted that winter lasted two days at most, and in January 1258 one could even see violets, strawberries and apple trees were in bloom.
Indonesian sources are of course reporting a terrible disaster. On the palm leaves of the chronicle "Babad Lombok", the Old Javanese language tells of a monstrous explosion that resulted in the formation of a caldera on Mount Samalas. Ash rain and pyroclastic flows wiped out Pamatan, the capital of the local kingdom, and neighboring settlements, killing thousands of people. The exact date is not indicated in that chronicle, however, according to indirect data, it can be assumed that the eruption occurred no later than the end of the 13th century: another coincidence.
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Pamatan still lies under a heap of ash. Although sometimes compared to Pompeii, the state of the city remains unknown. In Pompeii, ash rain killed people, but carefully preserved the houses and streets of the city for posterity. And pyroclastic flows sweep away everything in their path, so archaeologists should be prepared for disappointment.
