Sunday, July 26, 2009

ANAK KRAKATAU

On the 29th of December 1927, a submarine eruption started in the same position of Krakatau's mighty explosion of the 19th century. A new island named Anak Krakatau - "Child of Krakatau" rose above the water but the pumice and ash were quickly washed away by wave action as were the other two islands that followed. In August 1930, a fourth island emerged, erupting lava flows that resisted erosion.

Krakatau is directly above the subduction zone of the Eurasian Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate where the boundaries make a sharp change of direction leading to a weakening of the crust.
There were three volcanic cones on Krakatau: Rakata to the south, Danan to the north and Perboewatan also to the north.

Since the 1950s the island has steadily grown to a high point of around 980 feet (300m) above sea level and is still active with the latest eruption starting in April 2008 but an intense period of explosive eruptions began in 2009.

The following images were taken by Marco Fulle over the 4th to the 9th of June, 2009.



This is Anak Krakatau from the island of Rakata which is the main island of the Krakatoai group.



This is Anak during a tropical storm where lightning hits the crater. Lightning activity like this was also seen over the crater of the erupting Chaiten volcano.


The thunderstorm here is only about 500 metres from the crater. The lightning can be seen behind the ash cloud from the latest explosive episode.

11 comments:

River said...

I love that first picture, with the deadwood in the foreground it almost looks as if it could be an alien landscape.

Anonymous said...

Better that the pressure is released in the volcano than burst out of the ground somewhere.

Lad Litter said...

Fabulous photos. Thanks Jahteh. I saw a Brit doco where they worked out that it was the worldwide dust cloud from an Anak Krakatau eruption in around 667AD that caused a winter in Europe to last three years and greatly reduce the poppulation. This was also thought by these film-makers to be the origin of the Land being laid waste to as King Arthur declined.

Suppose I should research it.

R.H. said...

That's one hell of a camp fire.

JahTeh said...

River, it looks fantastic as wallpaper.

Andrew, it is coming out of the ground that is, the sea floor. It's not like a smooth flowing Hawaiian crater but explosive, straight up. A bit like my temper.

LL, was that the doco with the tree rings? I love the fact that New Zealand has moved closer to us after their last earthquake. I mean a whole foot closer, I can almost smell the sheep.

Rh, Smell the brimestone and repent!

Davoh said...

So, when were you; standing on the edge -taking that photo. Love you Jen. We do what we do. Launch into whatever. Long story and have "let the side down".

Davoh said...

Nah, rephrase: still hanging about wondering what anything actually means.

have a local friend who had motor vehicle to get me to "interview' with local "job network'. Oh fer fuck's sake .. let me go. Have three months to go. Who gives a shit? The "private" networks have to keep "ticking the boxes" to get the Commonwealth funding. big loadacrap.

Armagny said...

Awesome Jahteh. I went trekking in Ujung Kulon once, it's a huge reserve at the very western tip of Java, and the first night as we sat on the beach we could hear the Anak going 'boom' in the distance. It was eery, almost frightening.

Jayne said...

Fabulous photos.
As Andrew says - rather the pressure is vented somewhere "out there" than around populated shorelines.

JahTeh said...

Davo, a job network, with your experience you should be running it in a week.

'Gnac, I'd love to go there and see it for myself but it means travelling and like fine wine, I don't travel well.

Jeebus Jayne, you can't get anywhere more populated than where this firecracker is. There's something for the Feral Beast to do, look up volcanoes in Indonesia and it's frightening how many there are on so few islands.

Middle Child said...

Thats something I didn't know about...thanks for this