Supervolcano!

So since we're watching the movie about the supervolcano known as yellowstone I thought I would do my weekly post on another supervolcano, "Toba" which erupted on the island of Sumatra around 73,000 years ago. Scientists have just discovered that this eruption caused deforestation in much of central India, 3,000 miles away from the actual eruption. When this volcano erupted it sent 800 cubic kilometers of ash into the air, which created a crater (like Yellowstone) that is also the worlds biggest volcanic lake (pictured above). The ash that was sent into the air reflected sunlight off the earth creating a ice age that lasted around 1800 years, that dropped world temperatures as much as 28 degrees farenheit. The deforestation that the eruption of Toba caused may have forced our ancient ancestors to come up with new ways for survival that enabled them to eventually replace other ancient human species such as the neandertals.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123142739.htm