Located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, Indonesia, the Krakatau Islands Nature Reserve is the spectacular site of the world’s youngest active volcano. Anak Krakatau (The son of Krakatau) has been steadily rising out of the sea since 1930 and is considered one of the best examples of recent island volcanism and tropical vegetation succession.
Krakatau’s notorious and world famous history has been of great interest to scientists since the 16th century, when the Sunda Strait functioned as a gateway for sailors from the European continent to the Indonesian archipelago.
The “Ancient Krakatau” has exploded twice over the last 1600 years, both times with catastrophic effects. The explosion and collapse of the 2,000 meters high andesitic volcano in 416 AD left three remnant cones which over the centuries coalesced into one volcanic island.
Before the spectacular August 27 1883 eruption, which destroyed two thirds of the volcano above sea level, Krakatau measured 9 by 5 kilometers. This last huge eruption, one of the biggest explosions on earth in recorded time, killed over 35,000 people living on the Java and Sumatra shores of the Sunda Strait. Blocks of coral weighting as much as 600 tons were hurled ashore and the tsunami (shock wave) of 40 meters high still measured 2 meters when it reached Indonesia’s capital Jakarta.
About 20 cubic km of material was expelled with ash falling in Singapore, 840 km to the northwest, and on ships over 6000 km away. Fine ash in higher latitudes caused unusually red sunsets for three years and acted as a solar filter, resulting in a 5-year global temperature drop of 1.2degree Celsius.
Today, the Krakatau Islands National Reserve consists of four islands of which only Anak Krakatau, now about 200 meters high, is volcanically active. The islands of Payang (Verlaten) and Sertung (Lang) are remnants of the 416 AD explosion, while Rakata used to be the southern tip of the Island which exploded in 1883.
The 800-metre high island of Rakata is covered by extensive moss forest, and the 40 species of resident birds and 54 species of butterflies are the confirmation of the rich avifauna present. The narrow patch reefs north of Rakata and west of Sertung offer a rich and steadily developing underwater life with primary and secondary colonizers.
Lying on the edge of the tectonically active Sunda shelf, Anak Krakatau regularly experiences significant volcanic activity (1952, 1972, 1992 and 1994) as a part of a common cycle for volcanoes. Hundreds of years of erupting at low level to build up the volcano have been followed by huge eruptions (416 AD. and 1883), when the volcano collapsed into a caldera. Very modest activity was reported at the beginning of March ’99, with plumes of smoke rising from the 600-meter wide cone.
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