What is the largest eruption ever?

Yellowstone has had three very large eruptions in the last 2 million years. These eruptions occurred 2.2, 1.2, and 0.6 million years ago.

The biggest eruption I know of was at Yellowstone about 2.2 million years ago. An explosive eruption produced 2,500 cubic kilometers of ash! That's about 2,500 times more ash than Mount St. Helens erupted!

Steve Mattox

The biggest volcanic eruptions...last 10,000 years and in recorded time

Left Panorama of Crater Lake caldera. Photograph by Steve Mattox, August 1987.

Only four eruptions in the last 10,000 have been assigned a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7. They are:

Tambora, Indonesia 1815

Baitoushan, China-Korea border, about 1050

Kikai, Japan, about 4350 B.C.

Crater Lake, Oregon, USA, about 4895 B.C.

A Big Ten list of eruptions based on explosive force and destruction in historical time would include:

1. Tambora, Indonesia 1815: VEI=7, 92,000 casualties
2. Santorini, Greece 1628 B.C.: VEI=6, unknown casualties
3. Krakatau, Indonesia 1883: VEI=6, 36,400 casualties
4. Santa Maria, Guatemala 1902: VEI=6, 6,000 casualties
5. Mount St. Helens, USA 1980: VEI=5, 57 casualties
6. Vesuvius, Italy 79: VEI=5, 3,360 casualties
7. Pinatubo, Philippines 1991: VEI=5, 932 casualties
8. Mount Pelee, Martinique 1902: VEI=4, 29,000 casualties
9. Nevado del Ruiz, Columbia 1985: VEI=3, 23,000 casualties
10. Unzen, Japan 1792: VEI=2, 15,000 casualties.

Decker, R., and Decker, B., 1989, Volcanoes: W.H. Freeman, New York, 285 p.

Nuhfer, E.B., Proctor, R.J., and Moser, P.H., 1993, The citizen's guide to geologic hazards: American Institute of Professional Geologists, Arvada, CO, 134 p.

Simkin, T., and Fiske, R.S., Krakatau 1883: The volcanic eruption and its effects: Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, D.C., 464 p.

Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the world: Geoscience Press, Tucson, Arizona, 349 p.

Steve Mattox

Energy
There are estimates of the energy released by volcanoes. The energy is released in the form of heat, explosive energy, and earthquakes. Macdonald (1972) reported that the 1952 eruption of Kilauea (136 days at a lava lake) gave off 43,000,000,000,000,000 calories in heat energy. That is the same as 1,800,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ergs of work. Macdonald converted this to an equivalent amount of electrical energy. It would be one fifteenth of the total power consumed in the US (in 1960!) or two fifths of the power production of the entire U.S. during the period of the eruption.

The 1815 eruption at Tambora, the largest eruption in historical time, released 840,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ergs of energy, about 400 times more than the Kilauea eruption.

Sources of Information:
Macdonald, G.A., 1972, Volcanoes: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 510 p.

Yokoyama, I., 1957, Energetics in active volcanoes. 2nd paper: Tokyo University Earthquake Research Institute Bulletin, v. 35, p. 75-97.

Steve Mattox