Youngest Toba eruption

The Youngest Toba eruption was a supervolcanic eruption that took place about 74,000 years ago at what is now Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is classified as the largest known explosive volcanic eruption of the Quaternary period, with a volcanic explosivity index of 8, the maximum rating on that scale. The eruption is estimated to have released around 3,800 cubic kilometers of material and to have deposited at least five centimeters of ash across a large part of the Indian subcontinent, with measurable ashfall recorded over an area of more than 38 million square kilometers. Researchers have long debated whether the eruption caused a severe human population bottleneck, though more recent evidence suggests its climatic effects were less catastrophic than earlier theorized.