Tambora 19 Februari 2015 Inggris

GREETINGS FROM TAMBORA
A Potpourri of The Stories

on The Deadlinest Volcanic Eruption
Adjat Sudrajat - Heryadi Rachmat
GREETINGS FROM TAMBORA

A Potpourri of The Stories
on The Deadlinest Volcanic Eruption
Authors
Adjat Sudrajat
Heryadi Rachmat
Editors
Hawe Setiawan
A. Djumarma Wirakusumah
Cover Ilustration
Ayi R Sacadipura
Photographs
Heryadi Rachmat and others
Layout and graphic art

Roni Permadi
Published by Geological Museum, Geological Agency

Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Republic of Indonesia
Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia
All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form without written permission from the publisher
First Published 2015

National Library Cataloging in Publication Data
I. SUDRADJAT, Adjat II. RACHMAT, Heryadi
ISBN 978-602-1704-43-1
Printed in Indonesia
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ii
Greetings From Tambora
PREFACE
The eruption of Tambora in 1815 has drawn much atten-

tion because of the large impact around the globe. The dust
veil entering the stratosphere brought over the atmospheric
change. In turn the weather condition created the unfavour-
able circumstances for crops to grow resulting in food short-
ages everywhere in Europe and another side of the Atlantic.
The bad weather had influenced the social life all over
the world, and the course of history had significantly changed.
The end of Napoleonic war in Europe was referred to be close-
ly related with the bad weather caused by Tambora eruption.
The advancing movement of American settlers to the west
was said to be triggered by Tambora eruption.
In Sumbawa Island three Kingdoms perished. As many
as 92 thousands people dead caused by direct and indirect im-
pact of the eruption. The culture and language also vanished.
People in other island west of Sumbawa also suffered. Many
people died in Lombok and in Bali Islands.
Tambora volcano and the Sumbawa Island now recover. How-
ever people always uneasy to the possible eruption of the
same magnitude. The investigation therefore needed. On the
other hand the buried kingdoms and their culture would also
become important object of research.
Taking into account such needs and interests, people
in Sumbawa feel that the commemoration of such big event
must be carried out. Not only to remind the people on the im-
pending danger of a volcano, but also to explore the heritage
and treasure provided by the nature. In this particular rela-
tionship, the authors take a liberty to prepare the book con-
cerning Tambora eruption. The book assembled the stories,
folklores and legends as well as the volcanological analysis
of Tambora character as the background. This book entitles
“Greetings from Tambora” in line with the program of the local
governments to uphold the theme of the bicentennial com-
iii
memoration with a poetic wordings “Tambora Menyapa Dunia”

or Tambora greets the world. We add the subtitle “A potpourri
of the stories on the deadliest volcanic eruption” to ensure the
popular and easy contents of the book.
Bandung, April 2015
Adjat Sudradjat
Heryadi Rachmat
iv
v
Contents
ii
Preface iii
Contents iv
The eruption that shook the earth 1
The deadliest eruption 2
The global impacts 6
The death toll 8
The nightmare 15
Chronology of the eruption 16
The magnitude of the eruption 20
The eyewitness 21
Sounds and air vibrations 29
Tsunamis 30
The years without a summer 34
An abrupt change of the climate 35
The depressed situation in Europe 38
In the United States and Canada 40
In Asia 41
The epidemic disease of Bengal 42
Folklore and the Pompeii of the East 49
Three kingdoms surround Tambora 50
The folklore of the dog entering a mosque 52
The tale of a Golden Palace 53
The Pompeii of the East 54
The end of the world: three kingdoms instantly 59
perished
Tambora changed the world 63
Tambora eruption and Napoleon 64
The financial crises of America 66
The invention of bicycle 66
vi
The history caesurae in Sumbawa 67

Will Tambora erupt at the same scale in the 71
future?
The ring of fire 74
The location of Tambora in the tectonic framework 75
The volcanological history of Tambora 77
Pyroclastic flows and Pyroclastic fall of Tambora 82
Volcano
The volcanological analysis of the 1815 eruption 86
Will Tambora repeat the deadliest eruption? 87
The Tambora heritage and its surroundings 90
The Tambora adventure 90
Flora and fauna 90
The origin of life in Satonda 94
Moyo Island of paradise 95
The deepest hole of Batu Hijau 96
Sumbawa in the triple junction of the tourist desti- 97
nations
Living in harmony with Tambora 97
Toward the Geopark of Tambora 98
Acknowledgement 102
List of further easy readings 103
About the authors 104
vii
viii
This book is humbly dedicated

to the people of Sumbawa
ix
Tambora as seen from the south (Photo by Wahibur Rahman)
viii
THE ERUPTION THAT

SHOOK THE EARTH
1
Fig 1. Map shows the location of Tambora volcano

in Sumbawa Island, the Archipelago of Indonesia
The deadliest eruption
Tambora Volcano is located in Sumbawa Island, east

of Bali, West Nusa Tenggara in the Indonesian archipelago.
The volcano shook the earth with a violent explosion that oc-
curred in April 1815. A dust veil suddenly covered the entire
globe which strongly reduced the sunlight penetration to the
earth’s surface. The weather in the following years changed
dramatically; the global temperature dropped down. People
in Europe remembered this dooms day as the “darkness” well
described by Lord Byron, a world poet of English origin. In
2
America people called the chilling year of 1816 as the year

eighteen hundred and froze to death, instead of eighteen hun-
dred and sixteen. Summer had never come on this particular
period. Famine spread over the entire continent of Europe fol-
lowing the ruin of second Napoleonic War. The inhabitants of
the American continent moved massively to the West search-
ing for warmer weather. The whole world experienced “the
years without a summer”.
In the island of Sumbawa volcanic ashes covered the
area as thick as few meters. In the places close to the volca-
no, the glowing rocks devastated the area and left the deposit
3
exceeding more than 30 meters. The molten rocks of fists size

were hurled to the places at distances of more than 20 kilo-
metres from the crater. In the western flank of the volcano,
the glowing cloud flowed down the slope and covered the area
with pyroclastic blanket of more than five meters thick. Three
kingdoms located in the lower slope of the volcano perished.
In the Sumbawa Island, more than 10 thousands people in-
stantly dead, some 38 thousands people lost their lives due to
starvation. The diseases epidemically broke out and claimed
more people died. In the island of Lombok next to the west
4
Fig 2. Mount Tambora in Sumbawa island,

West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
of Sumbawa Island, the number of victims exceeded 44 thou-

sands people. The total victim directly related to the eruption
thus, outnumbered to 92 thousands people.
In Bali Island the bad harvest claimed about 25 thou-
sands people died because of famine. The number of total
fatalities therefore might exceed some 117 thousands people.
It appeared that during the eruption the prevailing monsoonal
wind blew from the east to the west sending volcanic ashes
to the islands located west of Sumbawa and finally reached
the eastern half of Java Island. The ash rain poured down
5
Fig 3. Tambora caldera seen from the satellite showing the di-
ameters of about 7 kilometers and the depth of 1,200 meters
produced by 1815 eruption.
Tambora Caldera
North
Tambora Caldera
South
the island of Madura causing three days and nights fell pitch-
dark. Further, ash fell down in Jakarta 1,250 kilometres west
of Tambora.
The sounds of Tambora explosion were heard at large
distances. To the west, people in Jakarta located 1,250 kilo-
metres from Tambora heard the detonations of the eruption.
Further to the West, a residence of Bangka Island some 1,500
kilometres distance from Tambora reported the sound of the
explosion. Similarly in Bengkulu 1,775 kilometres distance,
people heard the explosions. The air vibration shook the in-
habitants of Surabaya, in East Java, 600 kilometres west of
Tambora. To the east the explosions were heard in Ternate
located at a distance of 1,400 kilometres from Tambora.
The continuing detonations seemed to Lieutenant Gov-
ernor Raffles and many others as the sounds of the firing can-
nons in a sudden ambush to the Island of Java. The garrison in
Yogyakarta took the initiative to approach the coming enemy
in the northern coastal area of Central Java. Later, it appeared
that it was a fallacy. Raffles and many others should have
been embarrassed because mistakenly interpreted the sound
of volcanic eruption to the explosion of the cannon. Similarly
in Makassar, 380 kilometres north east of Tambora, the cap-
tain of a vessel by name of “Benares” issued an alert against
the firing cannon of the pirate. An armed boat was dispatched
from Makassar to look for the warring pirates. They returned
hand empty. The explosions of Tambora obviously deceived all
of them.
During those days no telecommunication means was
available in Java until 1856 when the first cable was installed
connecting Buitenzorg (Bogor) and Batavia (Jakarta). The
sounds heard by the people in Java remained a mystery for
months until finally Raffles received the report from Owen Phil-
lips. Augmented with other information collected from many
sources, Raffles in 1816 firmly explained to the scientific com-
munity forum in Jakarta about the gigantic eruption of Tambora.
8
Prior to the eruption, Tambora scrapped the sky with

the height of 4,200 meters. It was the highest volcano in the
archipelago. After the 1815 eruption, the elevation reduced
to 2,851 meters tearing apart about a third of its volcanic
body. A gigantic hole replaced the cone of the summit. The
caldera of 7 kilometres diameter and one kilometres depth
came into being. The 1815 eruption blasted about 150 cubic
kilometres of volcanic materials both old and juvenile. This fig-
ure is equivalent to the energy released by as many as 171.5
thousands units of atomic bombs or 1.44 x 1027 ergs. At the
scale of volcanic eruption index (VEI), Tambora 1815 eruption
was placed at the level of 7 out of 8 which means the biggest
eruption in the modern history of human life. For the com-
parison, the ejected materials out of the Krakatau eruption in
1883 amounted to 18 cubic kilometres or far below Tambora.
The global impacts
The ash column injected to the sky as high as 43 kilometres

penetrated the stratosphere and remained there for years. The
sulphur dioxide contained in the column combined with water
vapours produced aerosols that travelled circling the globe
under the blowing wind. The materials formed a veil that re-
duced the sunlight to penetrate to the earth’s surface. When
the sulphur dioxide sank down from the stratosphere to the
atmosphere, it produced the nuclei for water condensation.
The intensive cloud formation therefore occurred. The sky be-
came dark and gloomy. Finally, the global weather changed
dramatically.
The global temperature dropped at the average of 1o
to 2.5o C. In places it went drastically down to 10o C lower
than normal. The 1816 winter was the coolest winter in mod-
ern history that swept Europe and America. The summer had
never appeared. The sun hid behind the dark sky. In the mid
summer of June to August, the earth was poured down by
9
Fig 4. The last Napoleonic war in Waterloo
snow. In Hungary the brown colour snow fell down. In south-

ern part of Italy the snow was rather red containing volcanic
ash continuation. In Europe people called the period as the
year without summer. In North America instead of the year
eighteen hundred and sixteen, people replaced it with eigh-
teen hundred and “froze to death”.
Immigrants who just arrived in America had to return
back to Europe, because of the food shortages. The cool
weather caused the ruined harvest. The mass migration from
the eastern part of America to the west took place to search
for warmer weather. The Tambora eruption had contributed
to the exploration frontier in the American continent. In New-
foundland the farm animals were fed by mackerels, thus rec-
ollecting people to the “years of mackerel.”
In Europe the ruin of the Napoleonic war worsened the
situation. The failed harvest causing food shortages triggered
10
the social unrest. The farmers flocked the cities for food. Many
industries closed their activities creating jobless. In turn it re-
sulted in riot and robbery that occurred in places. The malaise
swept the continent of Europe. In France the situation had
lead to the new social revolution against the King. The people
in Europe might remember the suffering as “the great subsis-
tence crisis in European’s history.”
The Tambora eruption had changed the monsoon pat-
tern yielding wet and dry weather in different part of the
globe. Cool weathered killed the forests. Combined with the
torrential rain, the flood flushed down Yangtze and Yellow Riv-
ers in China and Bangladesh. The epidemic cholera broke in
Bengal, India and quickly spread over many parts of the world
including Europe and America.
Following the Tambora eruption the wet weather ex-
isted in Europe. It was said that Napoleon Bonaparte after
11
returning from his exile in Elba Island, marched to Paris with

a thousand of his devoted followers and seized the power.
Soon afterwards the Second Napoleonic war broke in Europe.
The wet weather in the summer of 1815 unfortunately had
hampered the progress of Napoleon’s artillery. Many of the
cannons sank in the mud pitch. Finally in June 1815 Napo-
leon lost the fight in Waterloo Plain after exactly a hundred
days in the throne of Emperor. For the second time he had
to spend his life in the prison in Saint Helena island in the far
away south Atlantic. Tambora had contributed to terminating
the war that caused sufferings. Historian Anthony Tully called
Tambora as having triggered the “worldwide historic events”.
The death toll
The ash blanket covering the whole island of Sumbawa de-

stroyed the crops and contaminated drinking water. For
months people had no food to eat, similarly with the livestock.
Therefore many people died, anywhere. Nobody had enough
energy to bury the corpses. When Owen Phillips arrived in
Sumbawa Island on 23 of April 1815 he saw many dead bod-
ies laid on the street, the ditches and in the field. The horse,
sheep, ox and other animal carcasses were found anywhere.
Wild animals and eagles found an abundant amount of food.
Drinking water was contaminated by sulphur brought
over by volcanic ash, and caused diarrhoea spreading over the
island of Sumbawa. The King’s daughter of Sanggar Kingdom,
who managed to escape the pyroclastic flow, finally died due
to diarrhoea. Many people of Sumbawa fled the island. About
80,000 people out of the total 134,000 inhabitants died or left
Sumbawa to the safer places in other islands. The scarcity of
manpower made the island difficult to recover.
The situation in Lombok did not differ very much. The
30 cm cover of ash blanket ruined the crops and contaminated
drinking water. Famine spread over and caused many people
12
to die. Some of them fled the Island or become the cheap la-
bour to work in plantations in Java or other islands. In Bali Is-
land where the blanket of volcanic ash was less, the situation
did not differ very much. The ash cover of 25 cm destroyed
the crops and caused people and animals died.
In Sanggar peninsula where Tambora is located, the
eruption destroyed forest and took 10,000 lives instantly.
Tsunami generated by the pyroclastic flows entering the sea,
claimed more lives. In Lombok Island the total number of vic-
tims due to starvation and diseases outnumbered to 44,000
persons, while in Bali Island about 25,000 persons died.
Table 1. Number of casualties related to mega-disaster of

Tambora eruption
*Compiled from various sources
In Europe the casualties were due to the diseases,

notably cholera and typhus which spread over afterwards to
this continent. The shortage of food in the years following
the eruption made the diseases resistance of the people to
13
drop down. When the epidemic broke down in Europe, many

people died, particularly in Ireland which recorded some thou-
sands of people died.
In Yunnan, China the starvation could not be avoided,
because of food shortage related to the failed harvesting. Un-
usual chilling weather made the number of fatalities soared
thousands of persons died.
The famine and diseases all over the world in the after-
math period of Tambora eruption might exceed 100, 000 peo-
ple dead in addition to the victims in the location of Tambora
and the surroundings. The following table shows the estimated
number of casualties caused by direct and indirect mega-di-
saster of Tambora compiled from various sources Tambora in
the rise and fall of the culture
The Tambora eruption buried the Kingdoms of Tambora
and Pekat located at the west and southern slope and partly
of Sanggar Kingdom in the east of the volcano. The entire
people and their culture perished, including the only language
of the transition between Austro and Asiatic origin. The calam-
ity might be compared to the volcanic hazard experienced by
the ancient Romans due to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in
Italy in 79 AD. The eruption buried the cities of Pompeii and
Herculaneum and some other smaller cities. Comparing the
situation in Tambora and Vesuvius, many people referred the
kingdoms buried in Tambora eruption to the “Pompeii of the
East.”
Presently many people attracted to investigate and
search for the buried bodies and the artefacts left by the king-
doms. Some scientists among others from Rhode Island Uni-
versity, New York involved in the investigation. The tentative
results show that ceramics and the human bones have been
excavated from various sites. The metallic coins of 1731 and
1791 series were also collected. The recent investigation car-
ried out by group geologists and the archaeologists resulted in
the reconstruction of housing model of the people living in the
14
area. The work unveiled the buried materials with the help of
the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), which enabled to detect
the foreign objects in the pile of volcanic ashes or pyroclastic
flow deposits.
Fig 6. Mary Shelley wrote the story of Frankenstein

(Courtesy of the movie The Years Without of Summer) (Cari Gambar Lain)
In the other parts of the world, the impact of Tambora

eruption has triggered the richness of the world heritage. It
was said that during the gloomy weather and the continuing
rain in the summer of 1816, Mary Shelley created the hor-
ror story known as Frankenstein which to-day belongs to the
15
world’s heritage. At the same time John William Polidori wrote

the story about Vampire, the most horrible human beings. The
dark sky and the incessant rain seemed to vapour the illusions
on the horror. Lord Byron, a world poet who stayed together
with them in a rented villa facing Geneva Lake, wrote his fa-
mous poem about darkness they experienced in the summer
of 1816. He stressed the suffering and famine caused by the
war and all about darkness that shadowed the human’s life.
“…. And war, which for a moment no more, did glut him-
self again; …. A meal was brought with blood and each
sate sullenly apart ….. no love was left.” (Lord Byron)
Fig 5. The cover of the novel about Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley
inspired by the darkness caused by the Tambora 1815 eruption
(http://thelitquest.blogspot.com/2011/10/frankenstein.html)
16
Tambora eruption triggered the history caesurae as de-

scribed by an Indonesia historian Hellius Syamsuddin, born in
Bima, Sumbawa, who carried out a research on the impact of
Tambora 1815 eruption. The disappearance of the kingdoms
in Sumbawa and followed by the new rulers with different ter-
ritory and culture within almost an overnight marked the very
abrupt change in the course of the history. The territories left
by the perished kingdoms were then attached to the surviving
Kingdoms of Bima and Dompu. The eruption of Tambora thus
marked the establishment of the modern Dompu.
In the wider scale the impact of the eruption had sig-
nificantly contributed to the rapid changes of the history. In
Europe the termination of the wracked Napoleonic war offered
the new hope for the restoration of peace. The difficult situa-
tion due to the weather condition related to Tambora eruption
however triggered the social unrest in many parts of Europe.
In America the rapid change of the history might be observed
in the exodus of the people to the West, and the establish-
ment of five new states. Those are some of the evidences
of the history caesurae that took place in many parts of the
globe.
Beyond these impacts, the prolonged cool weather
caused by Tambora eruption in the past might inspire scientists
of the present days to create innovated technology in coping
with the current problems human beings faced against the
global warming. Tambora eruption has clearly demonstrated
the way to decrease the global temperature with the creation
of aerosol veil which was indeed natural. Would Tambora trig-
ger the acceleration of the history in dealing with the global
warming? Would it inspire people to find out the breakthrough
to overcome the crucial problem on global warming? Experi-
ences educate us that many technologies were derived from
the behaviour of the nature.
17
The floor of Tambora caldera and Moti Lahalo lake
18
THE NIGHTMARE
19
Fig 7. Caldera of Mount Tambora produced

by the 1815 eruption
Chronology of the eruption
Tambora volcano has been inactive during the last four centu-
ries before the 1815 eruption. During the quiescence period,
the accumulation of pressure took place. In 1812 Tambora
volcano seemed to wake up, billowing black ash column. The
activity took place several days. Since then no sign of activity
were seen. However local people reported rumblings originat-
ed from the volcano. Finally on April 5, 1815, Tambora sent
black cloud accompanied by strong explosion. The detonation
20
were heard in Makassar (380 kilometer north east), Jakarta

(1,250 kilometres west), and Ternate (1,400 kilometres east).
On April 6 the volcanic ash fell down in Surabaya (600 km
west) and continued until April 10. The billowing smokes con-
tinued intermittently for a few days.
In April 10 at 19.00 hour, the explosion increased dra-
matically. Three columns of black glowing smoke rose from
the volcanic summit. In the course of the eruption, those three
columns merged and the whole volcano became “the sea of
fire” as described by the local people. The detonations were
21
heard in many places in East Java and further west in Jakarta.

From Bengkulu (1,775 kilometres west of Tambora), report
came that the explosion sounds were heard.
On 20:00 the coarse materials as big as fists, were
ejected from the central of the eruption reached a distance
of about 20 kilometres. The volcanic ash started to fall down
at 21:00 to 22:00. The glowing pyroclastic flowed down to
all direction of the slope and entered the sea. The pyroclastic
flow destroyed the Kingdom of Tambora. The explosions on
10 April in the night were heard in Bengkulu (1,775 kilometres
west). The big eruption continued until the late afternoon on
April 11, 1815. Finally the eruption diminished on April 17,
1815.
The most important reference of the eruption was Raf-
fles’ Memoir based on the report by Lieutenant Owen Phillips
who arrived in Bima on April 18 or a week after the eruption.
The Memoir was published in London in 1830. Owen Phillips
took initiative to dispatch to Bima from his base in Makassar,
South Sulawesi. It was not by the order of Raffles who lived
far away in Jakarta, because no communication network was
available. The first telegraph was installed only in 1856 con-
necting Bogor and Jakarta. Therefore, the cannon-like sounds
had been a mystery for months. Finally a report prepared by
Owen Phillips came to Raffles, and enabled him to stand be-
fore the audience of Science Association in Jakarta speaking
about Tambora eruption that sent the sounds.
Owen Phillips collected the information from the sur-
vivors, among others the King of Sanggar who managed to
escape. The King and his family survived from the glowing
cloud which devastated the villages in Sanggar Kingdom. For-
tunately the expansion of pyroclastic flow to the south was
hampered by the hilly terrain built up by lava flows of the
earlier Tambora eruption. The capital city of Sanggar Kingdom
where the King lived fortunately was located south of the lava
terrain and was protected from the pyroclastic flow. They flee
22
to the south and arrived in the safer place. The king became
the eyewitness and the main source of information for Owen
Phillips. The chronology of the eruption whereupon was con-
structed. The following table (Table 2) summarizes the course
of the eruption from the initial stage until the termination basi-
cally based on Owen Phillips’ report. Other sources of eyewit-
nesses were also added. Comments were given by the present
authors to give highlight on the volcanological process taking
place during the course of the observed phenomena.
Table 2. The chronology of Tambora 1815 eruption

according to the eyewitnesses
23
The magnitude of the eruption
The magnitude of the eruption is measured based on the

amount of volcanic materials ejected from the crater. Com-
paring the volume of the ejected materials people came to
the scale of the volcano eruption index (VEI) ranging from 0
to 8. The most voluminous eruption was recorded by Taupo,
a pre-historic caldera in New Zealand and Yellowstone caldera
in USA that erupted 600,000 years BP.
Fig 8. The magtitude of the volcanic eruption based on the exploded ma-
terials (VEI) accordig to Newhall and Self, 1982. Tambora eruption is
measured 7 on the scale (www.volcanoes.usgs.gov).
24
The magnitude of the 1815 Tambora eruption was

placed at 7 in the VEI scale or second to biggest in human his-
tory and the biggest in the modern history. Comparing it to the
famous 1883 Krakatau eruption, Tambora was 8 times bigger.
The amount of ejected materials exceeded 150 cu km, where-
as Krakatau produced 18 cu km. In qualitative terms Tambora
was called colossal and Krakatau 1883 was huge with volcano
eruption index (VEI) of 6.
Volcanologists used to describe the characteristics of
the eruption by referring to the other eruption already known.
The detail description of Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD prepared
by Pliny the Young was the first reference. The strong erup-
tion shown by Vesuvius by sending ash column to the height
of more than 10 kilometres and the occurrence of pyroclastic
flow was given name Plinian type after the name of Pliny.
Tambora ejected materials and ash column to the height of 34
kilometres and also produced the pyroclastic materials. Based
on the criteria, Tambora eruption of 1815 was categorized
“Plinian type”, having strong pressure and voluminous ejected
materials and pyroclastic flows.
The 1815 eruption of Tambora destroyed its body by
a third, from the elevation of 4,200 meters to 2,851 meters
above sea level. Tambora eruption claimed the biggest num-
ber of casualties far above other volcanoes. Therefore Tam-
bora volcano might place itself into the biggest and deadliest
eruption in the world. The impact and the aftermath were
felt by the whole world and it triggered the sudden change in
many aspects of human life.
The eyewitness
In early 19 century, there was not much scientific description

of the natural calamities. The first written communication on
volcanic eruption was prepared by Sir William Hamilton, the
amateur volcanologist who became famous and was granted
25
Fig 9. Moment of paroxysmal eruption at 21-22.00 April 10 in the night

according to eyewitness (Sketch by Adjat Sudradjat)
26
the “father of volcanology.” He was fascinated by Vesuvius vol-

cano in Italy and he described the eruptions during his spare
time being the ambassador of Britain to the Kingdom of Na-
ples. A few centuries earlier the accurate description was writ-
ten by Pliny the Younger about the eruption of Vesuvius in the
year 79 A. D. The report made him famous and his legacy was
assigned to the eruption of Vesuvius’ character the so-called
“Plinian type”. Because of the extra ordinary size of 1815 Tam-
bora eruption, fortunately sufficient number of descriptions
were made based on the testimony of the eyewitness. Howev-
er the eyewitness was very limited, because almost all of the
inhabitants perished.
One of the most important eyewitnesses was the King
of Sanggar, who managed to escape from the calamity with a
group of his family. Luckily the eruption pointed to the west
leaving the eastern slope where Sanggar Kingdom was locat-
ed less attacked by the glowing clouds. The biggest two of the
three billowing smoke columns apparently located in the west
and in the southern upper flanks. Furthermore, in the eastern
slope the glowing clouds flowed down along a narrow passage
bounded in the north by the old volcano called Doro Tuta’a
and in the south by the hilly topography of lava flows pro-
duced by earlier Tambora eruptions. Fleeing to the south the
King and his family should only travel less than 2 kilometres to
arrive at the safer place. It was not clear weather the King and
family lived in Kote, a harbour located far in the south behind
the hilly terrain of the old lava flow. However, wherever the
King stayed during the peak of the eruption both places were
relatively safe.
Being informed that Lieutenant Owen Phillips visited the
devastated area the King paid a courtesy-call to find out the
possible assistance to help a handful number of his survived
people. In the meeting with Owen Phillips, the King vividly
described the eruption from the very beginning until he man-
aged to escape. During the evacuation, he lost his beloved
27
daughter because of epidemic diseases. Phillips prepared the

report compiling the stories given by the eyewitnesses and
his own observation in the field. Based on Phillip’s report, Raf-
fles described the characteristics of the eruption. Many other
reports from his subordinates and his own experiences were
compiled and presented on September 11, 1815 before the
members of the Literacy and Scientific Society of Java in Bat-
avia. The report gave a clear picture on the happening and
its wide impacts. The discourse was published in 1816 in the
Journal of Batavia Society.
FIg 10. Sir Thomas Raffles (http://www.janeausten.co.uk)
28
In the Memoir published in London in 1830, Raffles

wrote down the story on the situation in Java Island during
the eruption of Mount Tambora. At the time Java was under
an utmost alert against French and Dutch enemies. In such a
condition, the detonations were first thought to be the attack
of the firing cannon. Raffles wrote as follows:
“The first eruption were heard in this island (Sumbawa)

in the evening of the 5th of April, they were noticed in
every quarter and continued at intervals until the fol-
lowing day. The noise was, in the first instance, almost
universally attributed to distant cannon; so much so, that
a detachment of troops were marched from Djocjocarta,
in expectation that a neighboring post was attacked, and
along the coast boats were in to instances dispatched in
quest of a supposed ship in distress.”
Perhaps the bracket added by the editor might lead to

a bit misinterpretation. Certainly the violent sound must have
been heard in the entire Sumbawa Island. It seems that the
word this island should refer to Java where Raffles lived.
The eruption menaced all the vegetation in Sumbawa
Island. The trunk mixed with hot pumice and ashes slid down
along the slope and because the slope was rather steep about
200 the pyroclastic flow must have been travelling with the
speed of more than 60 kilometres an hour. The speed of such
a large mass accumulated a strong energy which easily swept
the vegetation and houses. The speed also generated strong
turbulent wind inside the pyroclastic flow blowing lateral and
vertical. The wind easily uprooted the trees, roof and houses,
and brought up human being and animals and everything into
the air. Finally the pyroclastic flow containing all the swept ma-
terials entered the sea and formed rafts with the size of more
than 5 kilometres, floating in the ocean. At the same time the
pyroclastic flow generated tsunami which inundated Sanggar
29
Fig 11. Painting shows the boots with the eruption

Tambora at the background (http://i0.wp.com )
beaches. At about 10 o’clock in the night all of the beaches

in Sanggar peninsula were flooded by sea water with the run-
up of more than 4 meters. The tsunami also occurred in East
Java and Maluku with the run-up of about 2 meters later in the
midnight.
Roorda and Eysinga (1841) collected information and
the stories from the eyewitnesses. There were only two per-
sons from the Kingdom of Pekat and one person from Tam-
bora who managed to escape. Pekat Kingdom was located
west of Tambora, while Tambora Kingdom was in the northern
30
slope of the volcano. The three survivals became the source

of information for the folklores developed among the people
in Sumbawa Island. There were three manuscripts written out
from those folklores living in the area. The first manuscript
entitled “The sign of Tambora eruption” and the second one
“The origin of the Tambora eruption”. The third manuscript
was written by Khatib Lukman in 1830 in the form of poetry
containing 488 paragraphs. As many as 406 paragraphs told
the story about the lively Bima Kingdom while the rest de-
scribed the deadliest Tambora eruption.
31
The first manuscript described the chronology of the

eruption as quoted in the book called “Bo’ Sangaji Kai” say-
ing that the eruption took place on Tuesday at the end of the
night. The serene did not break into daylight; instead it con-
tinued to be dark which was followed by the sounds of warring
cannons and later by the pouring sands and ash down from
the sky within three days and three nights. The statement
agrees with the explosion sounds described by Raffles. How-
ever the time of eruption seems to be a little bit shifted to end
of the night instead of 7.00 pm.
The second manuscript described the great fire origi-
nated from the crater. The fire moved everywhere and chased
the people wherever they ran, even to the sea, and caused the
sea to burn. The fire in the summit, in the villages and dwell-
ings, in the sea and in the entire lands lasted for days. The
darkness came down because of ash fall; nobody escaped. In
the Kingdom of Tambora, thousands of the inhabitant dead by
fire.
32
The third manuscript told the story on the situation in

the beaches where the tsunami swept the area. During the
ash fall, the day became dark. People were frightened by the
inundation that suddenly came from the sea, splashing out
their canoes into the coast and beaches. Thousands of people
died.
Based on available references in 1858 Junghuhn re-
ported the situation during the eruption. At about 7:00 pm
on April 10, 1815, three columns of fire were noticed in the
summit of Tambora volcano. Initially they existed in the area
around the summit, further they grew into larger area. The sit-
uation was chaotic and confused. In a very short moment oth-
er mountains in Sanggar peninsula were blanketed with fire
and spread over to other areas. The total darkness took place
at 8:00 pm. The hurled rock components ranged in size from
a few centimeters to some 20-30 centimeters in diameter. Be-
tween 9 to 10 pm the volcanic ash began to fall down. The
whirlwind blew the ash entering the houses in Sanggar village,
Fig 12. The stratified south inner caldera rim showing the alterna-
tions between pyroclastics and lava flows. The lower slope shows
the intentive debris sliding. (Photo by Wahibur Rahman)
33
and finally took the roof and destroyed them. The wind also
blew people, animals and trees and everything to the air and
finally sent them to the sea. The seawater rose to the height
of 4 meters and destroyed the houses, farms and everything
not only in Sanggar area but also everywhere reached by the
whirlwind. The story mentioned above described the char-
acteristics of the pyroclastic flow that usually generated the
whirlwind.
According to Lieutenant Owen Phillips who came to
the scene on April 18, 1815 or seven days after the eruption,
people in Sumbawa told him that Tambora volcano had never
shown any indication of the activity. In 1812, however, clouds
permanently hang at the top of the volcano. The cloud grew
bigger and darker. Finally detonations were heard. The cloud
remained in the summit while the rumbling sounds constantly
increased.
Another eyewitness by name of John Crawfurd shared
his experience on his voyage to Makassar which passed trough
the route rather close to Tambora. He wrote as follows:
“A year preceding the eruption, I accompany an expedi-

tion to Makassar, in Sulawesi and because of a particular
reason, we sailed close to the beach and even to Tam-
bora volcano which was announced active. From the dis-
tance we noticed the ash spread over the horizon which
became dark. It might be a warning of the impending
danger, however I avoided such a warning (which was of
course stupid) and I tried to approach. When we were
close enough, we were poured down by the ash falls.”
The story revealed the volcanic activity a year earlier

prior to the 1815 eruption. The activity might be the con-
tinuation of the 1812 eruption. The phenomenon demon-
strated that the very initial eruption of Tambora might have
commenced in 1812 and continued to April 1815. People had
34
already observed the billowing cloud at the summit in 1812

and rumblings were often heard afterwards. Nowadays, the
monitoring by seismographs and other volcanological instru-
ments might have noticed the precursors needed for issuance
of warning.
Fig 13. The distributions of volcanic ash during the 1815 eruption of Tam-
bora. Figures show the thickness of the volcanic ash deposits
(Sigurdsson et al. 1986)
In April 5, 1815 the permanent cloud at the summit

followed by fire and rumblings had frightened the inhabitants.
They requested the resident of Bima by name of Pielaat to
send an investigating team to find out the situation. Respond-
ing to the request the resident dispatched a person by name
35
Fig 14. The stratified southeast inner wall of Tambora caldera

(Photo by Wahibur Rahman)
of Israil to Tambora. Indeed an eruption occurred on April 5,

1815 indicated by the loud detonations and ash fall. Apparent-
ly Israil was the first victim of the deadliest eruption of Tambo-
ra. He never returned to submit the result of his investigation.
Another eyewitness wrote a letter from Surakarta, in
Central Java described the ash fall and the total darkness in
the afternoon of Wednesday April 5, 1815. The repeated ex-
plosion sounds were heard at 8:00 pm. A day before volcanic
ash already fell down in Surakarta. The letter also quoted a
report that following the detonation an earthquake was felt
in Surabaya. It is quite possible that the earthquake following
the detonation was a matter of fact the airwave which rattled
36
the window glasses. The letter further informed that the day
turned pitch-dark and many people lit lamp.
From Bangka Island the Resident of Bangka report-
ed that the explosions were heard on April 11. The sounds
alternated and resembled the sound of firing cannons at a
great distance. He further wrote that the phenomena were
also heard from places in Kalimantan. The information was a
few years later confirmed by a European by name of George
Zimmer who happened to receive the information from an old
lady living in Kalimantan that she heard the frightening sounds
and the earth shook. Following the sounds, ash fell down from
the sky. It was interesting to note that the ashes were sold
because people believed that it might cure sickness.
Collecting the information from the eyewitnesses,
many authors wrote that the volcanic ashes predominantly
distributed in the direction of west-northwest. It covered al-
most the whole Java, SE parts of Kalimantan and the south-
ern tip of South Sulawesi. Eastwardly, the ashes travelled as
far as Sumba and Flores islands which are a close distance
from Sumbawa. The east-southeast prevailing wind blowing in
dry monsoonal season of April confirmed the conclusion. The
thickness of the ash deposits exceeded 1 cm at a distance of
1.200 kilometres west of Tambora and more than 50 cm in
Lombok Island.
Sounds and air vibrations
The eruption of Tambora sent the sound to a large distance.

The farthest where the sound was heard was in Bengkulu lo-
cated 1,775 kilometres west of Tambora in the Island of Su-
matra. To the east the sound reached Ternate at a distance
of 1,440 kilometres. Air vibration rattled the window glasses
in Surabaya about 600 kilometres west. The following table
shows the locations where the sounds of the eruption where
heard.
37
Table 3. Places where the eruption sounds were heard
Tsunamis
Tambora volcano is located in a peninsula called Sanggar. In

the west it bounds with Saleh Bay, in the north Flores Sea, and
in the east with Sanggar Bay. The tsunami swept the beaches
of Sanggar Peninsula at the night of April 10 eruption about
10 o’clock pm. Because generally the villages were located at
the coast, it was estimated that some 10 thousand people at
the peninsula lost their lives because of tsunami.
Geologically Tambora volcano was separated from the
main island of Sumbawa. The formation of Labumbum volcano
complex 69 thousands years ago connected Tambora volcano
with the main island. It was no wonder, the Tambora erup-
tion generated tsunami of volcanic origin. During the eruption,
large amount of pyroclastic flows consisting of glowing rocks,
38
gases and steam rushed down the slope to all directions. Ar-
riving at the sea, the flows generated secondary eruption due
to the contact with sea water. The surrounding seas therefore
covered by ashes and the steam. The rocks mass of the py-
roclastic flow predominantly composed of pumice; this type
of rock contained many holes left by the gases during the
solidification, therefore the rock floated on the sea. The large
amount of these rocks assembled with plants and other mate-
rials swept by the flow, formed the floating islands.
Fig 15. Coral fragment embeded in pyroclastic flow deposits of 1815

Tambora eruption at the coast in Luk area north of Lombok.
Beside the secondary eruption related to the steam for-

mation, the mass movement of the flow generated tsunami.
The energy accumulated by the velocity of the pyroclastic flow
enhanced the formation of the big waves. The tsunami at-
tacked beaches of Bima east of Tambora and many islands in
39
Maluku. To the west the tsunami inundated places in Madura

and East Java coastal areas. The run up in Madura and East
Java reached some 2 meters at the distance of 600 km west
of Tambora.
Tsunami of volcanic origin was first observed in the par-
oxysmal eruption of Krakatau volcano located in Sunda Strait,
west of Java in August 27, 1883. The term was derived from
the words tsu and nami which means the big wave at the har-
bour. These phenomena often occur in the fisherman harbours
in Japan. The tsunami was generated by the large magnitude
of the earthquake located in the sea floor. Because Japan is lo-
cated in such an unstable earth’s crust these phenomena often
take place. Contrary to the tsunami caused by the earthquake,
40
Fig 16. Lava Dome of Doro Afi Toi

the tsunami related to the volcanic eruption were very seldom.

The Krakatau eruption of 1883 initiated the application of this
term in volcanic eruption mostly located or surrounded by the
sea.
Comparing the tsunami of Tambora with that of
Krakatau, the magnitude was far less. Krakatau’s tsunami
reached a distance of more than 5000 kilometres, while the
Tambora reached around 500 kilometres. This was quite evi-
dent because the Krakatau’s tsunami was generated by both
the energy and the volcanic mass directly flowed down to the
sea, whereas in Tambora the tsunami was caused by the mass
avalanche in the pyroclastic flows entering the sea at a large
distance from the crater.
41
The Moti Lahalo lake’s bottom of Tambora caldera filled with mud.
42
THE YEARS WITHOUT

A SUMMER
43
An abrupt change of the climate
At first the people in both sides of the Atlantic were puzzled

with the extreme changes of the weather. The phenomenon
occurred following the end of the Napoleonic war in 1815
where the Emperor Napoleon surrendered after losing the bat-
tle in Waterloo. The wet season hampered the movement of
the Emperor’s artillery. The cannons were trapped in the mud-
dy soils, giving opportunity to the combined England-Prussian
troops to crush the French army. Though the war seemed to
be over, the wounds left by the war remained. The social un-
rests and the poverty spread over the continent. Many people
44
fled to the new world of American continent. The sufferings

suddenly increased with the wet and doom day in the summer
of 1815.
The sky never showed a sunny day; instead it hung
grey and sometimes black clouds. People hoped that in the
following year of 1816, the day would change normally. It
appeared that the summer never came down. Day by day the
weather became extremely very cold. People in New Found
Land remembered these years as the “eighteen hundred and
froze to death” instead of eighteen hundred and sixteen. It
appeared that the global temperature dropped 1o to 2.5o C and
in places up to 10o C.
Fig 17. Painting by J.M.W. Turner “Chichester Canal” shows

the climate anomaly caused by tambora 1815 eruption. (http://
www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-chichester-canal-n00560 )
45
Fig 18. Schematic presentation of the global impact

of Tambora 1815 eruption
46
The months supposed to be the summer changed into

the cold weather. Snow fell down, rivers froze. The crops failed
to grow and no harvest in that anomaly years. This severe
situation caused the impending starvation in entire Europe-
an continent. In the other side of the Atlantic, the 1816 the
weather was indicated by cold and dry or “dry fog.” The im-
pact was similar, resulting in the food shortages everywhere.
Many of the farmed animals dead of hungry, some were fed
by mackerel caught up in the surrounding sea. That was the
situation in the northern hemisphere. Finally it generated the
social unrest, groups of farmers marched to the towns seeking
for food. People ambushed and robbed the bread factory. In
France the existence of the just regained monarchy was in the
brink of collapse. In Wales, United Kingdom, people travelled
far away to find food, and finally became the beggars in the
cities.
Some people called the situation as the “great crises
of the western world.” The impact of Tambora eruption par-
ticularly was felt by the people in Europe and America in the
northern hemisphere.
Fig 19. Mount Krakatau (http://www.1.bp.blogspot.com)
47
In the eruption of Krakatau in 1883, when the global

communication had developed, people noticed that a volcanic
eruption at the scale of Krakatau might cause the global at-
mospheric impact. The phenomenon triggered the investiga-
tion back to the situation in 1816, when the climate abruptly
changed. Now people believe that Tambora eruption might
have changed the global weather pattern. Further investiga-
tions concluded that the “super sulphate aerosol at the strato-
sphere” might hamper the sunlight to penetrate and reach the
earth’s surface.
The depressed situation in Europe
The Napoleonic wars had ruined the European agriculture and

industry. Thousands of people were dead because of the war.
When Emperor Napoleon returned from exile in Elba Island in
Mediterranean, the European continent was back to be un-
easy. War soon broke when the Emperor invaded. Fortunately
the dry summer in June did not as usual; instead of warm and
dry it became wet and foggy. The volcanic ashes of Tambora
had changed the temperature in far away in the east and the
impact creped to the whole world. Napoleon surrendered in
such an unfavourable war condition, terminating his 100 days
of “come back.”
The situation however degraded, because apparently
the Tambora ashes reached Europe later of the year and the
next three years veiling the globe, hampering the sunlight to
penetrate. “The years without a summer” was well remem-
bered by the people in Europe. The crops did not grow, the
harvest failed, food shortage occurred everywhere in Europe.
In France the situation was the worst compared to oth-
er countries in Europe. The country was ruined by the war and
followed by political unrest. The old dynasty returned to the
throne and tried to restore order. The aftermath of the French
revolution however was still living within the people’s mind.
48
The political turmoil almost toppled down King Louis XVIII

from his throne. Many jobless war veterans put more burdens
to the already chaotic situation. Furthermore at the time after
the war there was not enough manpower to resume and en-
hance the industry. The prices soared which made the people
to rob the food from the factory. Lootings occurred almost in
every city. The situation pushed the people to the brink of a
“peasant revolt” as frequently happened following a massive
disaster.
In Germany, the crises occurred. The food prices esca-
lated day by day, because of the commodities shortages. Peo-
ple demonstrated before the bread factories, food stores and
the market places. The demonstration changed into riot, fire
and lootings. The government declared emergency. Hungry
people flocked to the town to beg for food. People in Germany
recollect this difficult time as “the years of beggar.” Nobody
understood the cause of the bad climate.
The rivers in Germany suddenly turned to be wild.
Flood splashed down Rheine River and caused flood in many
cities along the river’s banks. The situation was triggered by
the storm happening during early summer of August. Summer
had never arrived.
In Britain and Ireland weather so cold, snow fell down.
The starvation spread over the entire southwest Ireland. Many
people moved to the cities and became the beggars for food.
Mob demonstrated while bringing flag with the words “bread
or blood.” Harvesting of oath, corn, grains and potatoes failed.
Later in the years between 1816 and 1819, typhus epidemic
broke out in Ireland. As many as 100,000 people were report-
ed dead within 3 years. This figure contributed to the annual
deaths of 200,000 people or twice the normal situation, during
the climate crisis in Europe.
In Swiss the temperature dropped down significantly.
The weather was wet; rain almost continued day and night.
Swiss suffered much because of the food shortage includ-
49
ing also for animals. Thousands of cattle died. On the other

hand the doomsday in Swiss contributed to the literature of
the world. It was said that in the summer of 1816 The Lord
Byrons and his group spent their holidays in Swiss with the
expectation the weather would be comfortable. Unfortunate-
ly the circumstances went another way around. They were
trapped in the villa in Genève Lake avoiding heavy rains and
storms. Genève Lake did not offer the beauty as commonly
in summer. To kill the time they wrote and wrote and finally
the unintended horror stories of “The Frankenstein” and “The
Vampire” came into being. Inspired by the doomsday Lord
Byron himself wrote the infamous poet of “Darkness” telling
about the dark and the sufferings caused by war.
In southern part of Italy people was frightened by the
falling red yellowish snow looked like flesh. This odd phenom-
enon made them very uneasy. Finally they asked the church to
pray for their safety. A professor who was also a clergyman at-
tempted with difficulties to convince the people that the phe-
nomenon was quite natural. He himself perhaps rather doubts
what kind of natural activities enabled to change the colour of
snow falling down from the sky? In Hungary similar snow of
red brown colour fell down during the summer time. People
wondered about their own fate, whether the Day of Judgment
would soon come. This country also suffered from the failing
harvest.
In the United States and Canada
The Tambora ashes had already formed a veil in American sky

in early 1816. The climate changed dramatically. The harvest
failed, the farmed animals dead, some were fed by mackerel
caught up in the surrounding sea of New Found Land. Peo-
ple called this difficult time as “the years of mackerel.” Some
of the arriving immigrant had to return to Europe because
of food shortages. In the summer of 1816 the Pennsylvanian
50
River froze, snow fell in the months of July and August. The
weather changed dramatically.
Many people in the eastern side of the continent mas-
sively moved to the West seeking for warmer climate. This
situation made the western frontier became the final destina-
tion of the immigrants. The people in California might be parts
of the exodus triggered by Tambora eruption. The political
turmoil happened in the United States following the establish-
ment of new states in the mid-west namely Illinois, Indiana,
Kentucky, Alabama and Missoury.
The impact of the extreme depressed agriculture pro-
ductions caused America suffering from the economy crises.
Panic of 1819 spread over the continent. As many as 100 banks
failed to overcome the financial commitments and finally went
bankrupt. The crises that occurred during the President Jef-
ferson administration were known as “the great economic de-
pression.”
In Asia
The impact of the eruption in Asia beyond the Indonesian Ar-

chipelago was represented by the situation in the mainland
of China. The poetry of starvation depicted the years of dif-
ficulties in Yunnan, China in the period between 1815 and
1820. It was Li Yuyang who brought over the sufferings of
famine in Yunnan province into the ancient poetry of China.
The weather was extremely cold because the change of the
chaotic monsoon pattern. The prevailing wind blowing from
the North brought the cool air which caused the temperature
to drop down. The wind also sent the dry air which dehydrated
the crops. Finally no crops were able to survive, they were all
died.
The “poetry of famine” written by Li Yuyang under a
Confusian way described the extremely severe situation which
touched deep in the heart of the people. It was said that many
51
family brought their babies to the market to sell them in re-

turn of a handful amount of food. Some might have killed the
children to avoid them to suffer and die of starvation. This
melancholies situation was well depicted in the old writings,
which revealed the situation. The present researchers found
out that the depressed days of Yunnan were coincident with
the deadliest eruption of Tambora.
It was also noticed that the difficulties had shifted the
agriculture pattern. The food crops were changed to other
agriculture product with higher income namely heroine. The
years after the disasters were marked by the increasing pro-
duction of such a commodity. In fact heroine was enjoyed by
the people in China and it highly increased export. Finally the
situation brought over the “opium war” which broke in 1839 to
1842.
The epidemic disease of Bengal
The ash veil sent by Tambora travelled to the west and

changed the monsoonal pattern in Bengali Bay. The weather
became hot and dry. It was to the contrary of the situation in
Europe that the volcanic dust brought over heavy rain, storm
and snow. The dry air in India had caused the crops dehydrat-
ed and the water scares. The environmental condition deteri-
orated which created favourable atmosphere for the microbes
Salmollera Parathypi of cholera to rapidly grow. Finally chol-
era diseases broke down. The victims escalated quite rapidly.
Within five days between November 15 and 20, 1817 in Ben-
gal alone 5,000 persons lost their lives.
The diseases spread over by way of rivers which in
many places were considered sacred by tradition. In Ganges
river cholera normally was the endemic but had never bro-
ken into the epidemic diseases. It was the year 1817, two
years after Tambora eruption made it suspicious because of
the abrupt change of the monsoon.
52
The mobile British troops stationed in India were the

suspected vehicle in bringing the cholera microbes to other
places. Within two years the epidemic had travelled as far
as Colombo and later to Pakistan. Finally in 1830 it reached
Europe and in 1932 it arrived in America. The victims might
exceed more than 100,000 in the area covering almost the
entire globe.
The change of monsoonal pattern in Bengali pushed
northwardly the humid weather to the north. The Himalayan
Mountains became wet and finally poured down heavy rains.
The rivers originated from Himalayan Mountain drained down
a large amount of water resulting in flood in the Bengali area.
The calamity added the sufferings already borne by the people
due to food shortage. Such a bad condition made the body re-
sistance of people against the diseases dropped down. It was
thought that was the prime reason of cholera endemic which
suddenly broke into the epidemic disease. The severe condi-
tion resulted by the volcanic dust disperse from Tambora had
triggered such a condition. Although two years lap between
the eruption and the cholera epidemic, many people were in
the opinion that the phenomena seemed to be closely related.
Fig 20. Doro Ncanga at the levels 1850 m. asl as the last stop point
before climbing the caldera’s rim from the south.
53
Fig ... . The illustrations of the world impacts

caused by Tambora 1815 eruption
54
55
The result of excavation in Oibura village revealed the parts of

house buried by pyroclastic flow deposits. (Photo by Made Geria)
56
FOLKLORE AND THE

POMPEII OF THE EAST
57
Three kingdoms surround Tambora
The calamities of Tambora eruption appeared in the Nusantara

manuscript entitled “The poetry of Bima Kingdom” written by
Khatib Lukman. The manuscript told that two kingdoms by
name of Tambora and Pekat were located surrounding Tambo-
ra respectively in north and western slopes. Other documents
written by Dutch’s VOC mentioned that in the eastern slope
it existed the Kingdom of Sanggar. Those kingdoms produced
and exported to meat, fish, wood, horses and tamarind Ma-
lacca and China. Beside those commodities, the Dutch’s VOC
regime purchased also slaves or unpaid labours from this re-
gion, using Dutch’s currency.
Fig 21. Philologist Dr. Hj. Maryam S. Salahudin opens an ancient manu-
script telling about Tambora 1815 eruption in Melayu language written in
Arabic characters.
58
Besides those three kingdoms, other written documents

mentioned the existence of Sumbawa, Dompu and Bima King-
doms. As early as the years 1605-1611, all the kingdoms in
Sumbawa Island existed under the strong influences of South
Sulawesi Kingdoms, particularly concerning the Islamic reli-
gion. The relationship expressed itself in the compulsory tax-
es to be paid to Makassar Kingdom in South Sulawesi. The
most important products to serve the tax consisted of high
quality warring horses and dyeing materials the so called sap-
panwood. In this case Sanggar and Pekat Kingdoms enjoyed
the special treatment because of their intimate relations with
Makassar kingdom. The taxes should only be paid to Prince
Matoaya. The other products of the kingdoms were rice and
pure honey. The situation continued until 1669 when VOC took
control on all the kingdoms of Sumbawa Island.
There were many others documents concerning the
kingdoms existed in Sumbawa Island in particular surrounding
Tambora volcano. It was very obvious that the culture devel-
oped at the slope of the volcano. At the upper parts of the vol-
cano forests grew very densely, kept the rain water and made
the lower slope fertile and rich of water. No wonder import-
ant agricultural commodities were produced by this region.
The cool and wet climate was favourable for some important
crops. In the present day the immigrants settled in this par-
ticular region attracted by the fertile soil. Similarly with the
forestry which developed the industry. The modern plantation
now covers most of the Tambora’s slope.
The folklore of the dog entering a mosque
In relation to Tambora eruption there are many legends and

folklores living among the people. Being religious community
the eruption of Tambora relates very much with the God of
Almighty. Many researchers found out that the 1815 Tambora
59
60
Fig 22. Sumbawa island was occupied by 6 kingdoms, 3 of them (Tambora,

Sanggar an Pekat) were destroyed during the Tambora 1815 eruption. The
remaining kingdoms are Sumbawa, Dompu and Bima.
61
eruption had inspired the stories living at the local communi-

ties surrounding the volcano. The folklores mainly focused on
the religion so devoted by the people. Islam had long before
become the formal religion of the kingdoms in Sumbawa Is-
land.
It is interesting to note the folklore collected by Roorda
van Eysinga. He was told the following story (adapted by the
present authors):
“Once upon a time before the Tambora eruption there

was an Arabic merchant by name of Said Idrus who hap-
pened to stop over in Sumbawa Kingdom. One day when
he prayed, he saw a dog entering the mosque. Conse-
quently he asked the mosque man who was on the job to
chase the dog out. Being a devoted Moslem, the Arabic
merchant told the mosque man that permitting the dog
to enter would mean kefir. He did not realize at all that
the dog belonged to the King.
Unfortunately somebody reported the case to the King
who obviously became angry. He ordered to catch the
dog and killed. The flesh later was served side by side
with the meat of a sheep in a reception the King made.
The Arabic merchant was invited to joint the reception
where by the order of the King he was specially served
with dog meat, whilst others received sheep meats. Not
knowing the meal was a dog meat, he ate it quite deli-
ciously. Finally the King told his guest that the food he
ate was dog meat earlier he condemned as kefir. Appar-
ently the guest defended himself by saying that he did
not know that the meat was the dog flesh. The argument
made the King unpleasant and finally he became very
angry and ordered his people to bring the merchant to
the top of Tambora and killed him. The accident caused
God to punish the King by sending the deadly explosion
of Tambora. The entire kingdom perished.”
62
It is recorded in history that King Abd al Ga’far Daeng

Mataram was the last king of Tambora Kingdom. He was the
14th king who governed from 1801 to 1815. The King was sup-
posed the person addressed by the folklore.
The other version of the story combined Tambora with
Saleh bay located west of Tambora. Instead of Said Idrus, the
name of the merchant was Syekh Muhamad Saleh who by
order of the king was killed somewhere in the beach at the
lower slope of Tambora. His body was burned and the ashes
were spread over the bay, nowadays known as Saleh Bay. The
God punished the king with the deadliest Tambora eruption
levelling the entire Kingdom to ground. The population and its
culture perished, including also the language which was very
unique being the most eastern transition of the Asiatic and
Austo-Polynesian mother tongue.
The tale of a Golden Palace
For people in Sumbawa Tambora possesses a super natural

strength. The word Tambora was derived from ta and mbora
which mean come and disappear. Therefore climbing Tambora
for them is a sort of ritual. Many bad doings must be avoided
during the hiking. A beautiful golden palace may suddenly ap-
pear before anybody doing forbidden things. The Ghost King
of the Golden Palace then extended his warm greetings and
served his guest with delicious fruits. He would also offer the
visitor the tour showing his beautiful golden palace.
To the male guest the King would introduce his beauti-
ful daughter and let them chat in a romantic surroundings at
the palace’s garden. And for sure, going deeper and deeper
the guest would never return from the palace which in fact the
dense forest covering the slope of Tambora volcano. That was
the way the soul of Tambora asked people to accompany, ta
and mbora, come and disappear. Just recently a high ranking
official of a ministry dealing with natural resources lost his life
63
at the elevation of 2,407 or 57 meters below the crest of the

caldera. He climbed the volcano through the Dorocanga track.
Surprisingly it happened in April, the month of the deadliest
eruption of Tambora. The mystical circumstances hung over
the area because almost the entire inhabitants, human beings
as well as animals living in the slope of the volcano died. In
the famous book “The Principle of Geology” published in Lon-
don in 1868 Charles Lyel gave the account on such a condition
with the following words: “Out of the population of 12,000
living in Tambora, only 26 individuals survived”.
The Pompeii of the East
Pompeii was a city of the ancient Roman culture, located SE

of the volcano close by to the coast of Mediterranean. Next
to the city lied another 5 cities, among others Herculaneum
which located about 15 kilometres northwest. The cities were
built at the slope of Vesuvius, an active volcano rising 1,279
meters above the Bay of Naples in southern Italy. The first in-
dication of the buried cities was the discovery of fragments of
marble unearthed by the workmen during the construction of
a canal to drain water from Sarno River to the nearby village.
Some coins of Nero age were also found. However nobody
ever thought about the connection of the artifacts with a bur-
ied city, until after a finding of a statue bearing the name of
Pompeii in 1763.
Before the intensive excavation, the location of the
buried city known as “la Citta” was a beautiful place covered
by grape and orange trees. Indeed it was a very fertile land
because it composed of pyroclastic flow deposits which after
centuries altered to the organic rich soil. The hill beautifully
faced to the Mediterranean Sea. Admired by its beauty and
moderate temperature, wealthy people built bungalows here.
The excavation unearthed the buried cities with build-
ings of the ancient culture back to the early age of the first
64
century. Bodies were found which later preserved and place at

the original location. The city of Pompeii was re-constructed
and finally became the tourist destination. Since then Vesuvius
and its cataclysmic eruption was widely known.
Fig 23. Excavation in one of the locations suspected as the buried artefacts.
In Tambora, the Vesuvius like eruption of Plinian type

occurred in 1815. The pyroclastic flows rushed down the slope
to all directions chiefly to the west, where the capitals of Tam-
bora and Pekat Kingdoms were located. The pyroclastic flows
deposited rocks of more than 10 meters thick consisting of
sands, pebbles and larger grain size up to boulders, notably
of pumice composition. After a few decades, the rocks altered
and produced fertile land. The villages, such as Doropeti were
built there, where the inhabitants could grow crops and pad-
65
dy. It was said that while digging the land, a farmer suddenly
found a ruin of houses buried under a thick pumice layer in
Doropeti area. Some other findings were unearthed in Pan-
casila and Kedindi villages. Intensive excavation by the Arche-
ological and Geological Authorities of Indonesia were carried
out. The survey collected some more artifacts and the ruin of
a village. These findings were preserved. The target area for
further excavations is Pancasila and Kedindi.
Fig 24. Roof of the ancient Tambora house excavated from Oibura village.
In 2004, the Team of Archeological Institute of Denpas-

ar Bali discovered a buried village with almost all the houses
and utensils intact. The overburden consisted of sands, lapilli
and boulders which composed of pumice, sand and ash as
thick as 3 meters. Further, another team under the coopera-
tion between Rhode Island University in USA and the Volca-
66
nological Survey identified some more locations of the buried

villages using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology. A
complete house was later unearthed with important materials
such as ceramics and utensils. Paddy in large amount was also
found indicating the site was an area of rice producer. A veg-
etable (sirih and pinang) crusher made out of water buffalo’s
horns was also found. Under the ruin of the house skeletons
were assembled.
Fig 25. The Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) survey found the artefact
buried 2-3 meters under the ground (Photo by Kun Ds)
Most recently in 2011 in Oil Bora site, Tambora District

another village was found at the depth of 3 meters. Houses
with utensils were unearthed. The location is about 700 meter
above sea level. The house was made from bamboo. Other
artifacts were found during the construction of the road for
67
68
Fig 26. Skeletons found in Oibura villages site during the

excavation. It was interpreted that the skeleton was lo-
cated at the kitchen (Photo by Made Geria)
69
the “klango” (Duabanga moluccana) Forest Company. The ar-

tifacts consisted of ceramics, coins, bronze, gold and silver
and also parang. The skeletons were also found. The findings
had been made public in 2012. Identification of some of the
ceramics revealed the origin of Vietnam and Cambodia. It was
apparent that the trading developed already with those coun-
tries. The design and decoration of the cloth demonstrated the
relation with Vietnam and Cambodian culture, the so-called
Annam. Sumbawa Island produced honey, horses, dyeing
wood and sandalwood. The skeletons found under the ruin in-
dicated that the eruption took place in the night, where people
stayed at home.
Such an intensive finding exhibited the culture of the
early 19-century in Sumbawa. The artefacts were collected in
the custody of the archaeological authority and hopefully later
will be placed at the site of the location. The geopark man-
agement being prepared perhaps would later the authority to
maintain such invaluable findings. In the forthcoming part of
this chapter it would be described the damage caused by the
eruption that made the two Kingdoms of Tambora and Pekat
with all the inhabitants and its culture perished. Together with
the culture, the calamity had also diminished the most eastern
Austro-Asiatic language. Therefore it might appropriate to call
the buried Kingdoms as the “Pompeii of the East”.
The end of the world: three kingdoms instantly

perished
The fertile soil of lower slopes of Tambora volcano provided

land for people to cultivate. As early as 15 centuries people
already lived in the area. The comfortable access to the sea
made the Kingdoms easily traded with the people coming from
overseas. The Kingdoms produced rice, sappan (red) wood,
tamarind, honey, coffee and also horses. From the unearthed
artefacts buried by the 1815 eruption it was evident that the
70
people lived there were prosperous. The findings of ceramics

with Cambodian and Vietnamese motives indicated that the
relation had far extended to the mainland of Asia.
The fertile land and the abundant products of the land
attracted the Kingdom of Makassar located some 400 kilome-
tres east of Tambora in the southern part of Sulawesi to estab-
lish trade with those three kingdoms. However the kingdoms
finally were put under the control of Makassar. They have to
submit various commodities serving as tax being the state-
ment of obedient to Makassar Kingdom.
Pekat Kingdom in west of Tambora perhaps was popu-
lated no more than 3,000 people. The same condition might
be the case with Tambora Kingdom located in the northern
slope. In the east the Sanggar Kingdom with its capital lo-
cated in Kote, perhaps was inhabited by approximately 4,000
people. The total population of Sumbawa Island might exceed
some 134,000 persons. The other three Kingdoms namely
Bima, Dompu and Sumbawa located in some distances south
of Tambora, in the safer area against the pyroclastic flows.
Fig 27. The observation on the rice grains that already changed into char-
coal found in Oibura village.
71
Fig 28. Some artefacts were also showing the utensils

for sirih leaf ceremony
Tambora Kingdom was lead by King Abdul Gafur who

lived peacefully. This kingdom which was formerly known as
Kengkelu was very unique. People in this area were consid-
ered to be brave and wise. The language used in this kingdom
differed significantly from the languages in other Kingdoms
in Sumbawa. The language to some extends related to the
languages of the tribes in Indochina. This particular language
seemed to be a transition between the languages used in the
west and east of Wallace Line. The language therefore repre-
sented the east end of the Asiatic origin and thus the transition
between Asiatic and Austro languages. Further the language
was exclusively spoken by the people of Tambora Kingdom.
The eruption of Tambora wiped out this particular language. A
very unique language spoken by a relatively limited number of
people perished. The transitional language between Asia and
Austro therefore had become “a missing link”.
72
The eruption of Tambora in 1815 wiped out the very

notable heritage of this region. All the three kingdoms were
destroyed by the pyroclastic flows rushing down in the west
and north slopes of the volcano. The paroxysm occurred in the
early night of April 10, which made the people unable to flee.
The darkness might hamper the view to the surroundings and
particularly to the volcano. The findings indicated that people
stayed inside the house during that deadly night, though rum-
blings had warned them. The excavation revealed the rem-
nants at the depth of 3 meters in area of former Pekat capital
about 25 kilometres North West of the crater. Presently the
area had been occupied by new villages namely Pancasila and
Kedindi which became the locations for further investigation.
The interpretation of the existing geological map
showed that the diatrema slightly inclined to the west resulted
in the heavy pyroclastic pouring down into this direction. It
was also possible that the eruption was directed somewhat
west judging from the three columns of fire reported by the
eyewitness. The evident was supported by the fact that the
pyroclastic deposits in the eastern slope of the area where
Sanggar Kingdom located were less. This situation provided
the opportunity for the King and his family to escape. Sanggar
Kingdom suffered only parts of the territory.
The other possibility was prior to the paroxysm the
bulging of the western upper cone took place. This portion
slid down covering the north and west slope together with the
pyroclastic flows. In volcanological terms it is called the erup-
tion of St Helens type following the eruption of Mount Saint
Helens in America in 1980. That was the reason the Kingdoms
situated north and west of the crater were totally destroyed.
Immediately after the sliding the crater opened. The pyroclas-
tic flows of Saint Vincent type thereafter rushed down to all
directions.
73
Gunung Tambora dilihat dusun Tambora (Foto : Made Geria)
74
TAMBORA CHANGED
THE WORLD
75
Tambora eruption and Napoleon
It is hard to imagine that Tambora has changed the world’s

history. However the abrupt change of the weather in almost
the whole part of the globe has triggered the new direction
of the history. The most striking evidence Tambora eruption
contributed was the end of the acute war in the continent
of Europe. Following the French revolution, General Napoleon
became the president and finally the Emperor of the newly
founded Republic. Napoleon soon declared War to countries
threatening France.
Fig 29. Sketch shows the panic situation of the inhabitants during
the Tambora 1815 eruption (www.smithsonianmag.com)
76
His strategy was to invade the enemy before France

was attacked. Therefore the countries surrounding France and
finally the entire Europe involved in the War. His ambition was
halted when his long journey to Moscow ended with the diffi-
culties due to the lack of food supply and the freezing winter.
Finally Napoleon surrender and was sent to exile in Elba Is-
land in Mediterranean. The long duration of War, however had
left the continent in ruin. The farm, industry and the produc-
tion activities were stagnant, food shortages threatened many
parts of the continent.
When the War over, people in Europe began to recover.
The hope for peaceful life emerged. However in April 10, 1815
Napoleon came back from Elba. Together with about 1000 of
his men, he marched to Paris and seized the power from Louis
XVIII. Soon he declared War and carried out campaign against
Britain and Prussia. The Napoleon troops moved to destroy
the Coalition Army who already assembled north of France
in the preparation to attack. Admiral Duke of Wellington and
General Blucher were the Commanders in Chief of the Coali-
tion Army.
For Napoleon that particular situation was the question
of winning the time. He decided to attack earlier taking into
account that weather in April would be most favourable for
the artillery to move. The cannon would easily mobilize in the
sunny summer. However the weather was unpredictable. The
volcanic dust veil thrown by Tambora far in the East suddenly
covered many parts of the globe. The impact reached Europe,
creating dark clouds and wet sky. Rain fell down all the day
long. The dry land soon changed to be muddy and wet soil.
Horses failed to draw the cannon trapped in the wet muddy
pits. The movement of the Napoleon’s artillery was halted by
the unpredictable wet season.
The time left in fighting the wet mud, opened the op-
portunity for the Coalition Army to strengthen their prepara-
tion. The additional power sent by Prussia duly arrived. Finally
77
Fig 30. Perjalanan dari dasar kaldera Tambora
in July 18, 1815 the battle of Waterloo smashed down the

ambition of Napoleon in his 100 days of his return to power.
The Coalition Army poured down Napoleon troops with no less
than 40,000 soldiers. Emperor Napoleon was captured and
78
brought to Paris for the total surrender. The Coalition Army

decided to put the Emperor back in jail in Saint Helena Island
in the far away of South of Atlantic.
79
The War in Europe soon was over triggered by the

eruption of Tambora. Napoleon “the Eagle” as Coalition called
no more annoyed the peaceful life of Europe. The history had
changed dramatically. It happened occasionally with eruption
of Tambora creating the condition to end the War.
The financial crises of America
The failed harvest of grains and corn caused further impacts

to the economy of America. The decline production was not
only threatened people to the impending starvation, but also
destroyed the market America had enjoyed. The economy
dropped down, because it was not enough production to meet
the increasing demand of the hungry countries in Europe.
The financial problems soon followed the failed har-
vest. As many as 100 banks were not able to avoid the bank-
ruptcy. The doomsday financial situation reached the peak in
1819 which was known as “the 1819 panics”. The accident had
brought America to reroute their economic strategy which re-
lied solely on the agriculture. At the same time the cold weath-
er in the East forced the exodus to the west to find some more
warm weather. The movement made the mid and the west
regions more populated and finally sufficient to establish new
states. Many mid-west states were founded in the aftermath
period of Tambora eruption. America advanced its territory to
the west during the difficult period triggered by the eruption.
It appeared that the frontier areas were rich and fertile that
made America prosperous.
The invention of bicycle
Bicycle was known by the end of 19 century long after the

eruption of Tambora. However “draisine” which was thought
to be the earlier type of bicycle was invented in 1816 at about
the time when many difficulties occurred in Europe due to
80
food shortages. It was said that horse to draw the cart was
scarce, because of cold weather and no grass to feed. Many
horses died. It became worst because people ate horseflesh
and caused the number of horses depleted.
In such a condition, transportation was very critical. In
1816 a German by name of Baron Karl von Drais constructed a
wooden vehicle with two wheels which was moved by kicking
foot backward against the ground. It was called the draisine
adopted from his name. This mode of transportation was then
developed into velocipede in 1855 and finally to the bicycle
in 1885. Earlier in 1790 Chevelier de Sivrac a Frenchman in-
troduced the same type of vehicle called celerefere. However
this type of vehicle was not popular and not accepted by the
people. Instead, draisine was recognized as the first prototype
of the bicycle and Baron Karl von Drais was recognized as the
“father of bicycle.” It is hard to believe that Tambora eruption
had triggered the development of the bicycle. However the
circumstances related to Tambora eruption might very condu-
cive for people to accept the draisine.
The history caesurae in Sumbawa
The 1815 Tambora eruption demonstrated its strong influenc-

es to the history of human kind. The termination of Napoleon-
ic War and the restoration of peace in Europe were triggered
by the eruption. In America the establishment of new states in
mid-west America closely related to the exodus of the inhabi-
tants to the west seeking for warmer climate.
In the Island of Sumbawa the history abruptly changed.
After the eruption the territory of the kingdoms around Tam-
bora had been vacant. The absence of the Kings and all the
inhabitants left the territory under no administration. The pro-
cess of abolishment took place within less than a night which
made the course of the history totally halted. This situation
was called history caesure by historian Sjamsuddin in his book
81
published in 2012.
The government later arranged the new shape of the
territory involving the existing Kingdoms to cover the vacant
area around Tambora. The Kingdom of Dompu extended its
territory to the former territory of Pekat and part of Tambora
Kingdoms. Bima Kingdom received the new territory left by
Sanggar and part of Tambora Kingdoms. Sanggar, Pekat and
Tambora Kingdoms were officially dissolved. The consequenc-
es of the new administrative arrangement were among others
involved the socio-demographic and cultural aspects.
Normally the dissolution of a kingdom or a state must
have taken a considerable time taking into account the le-
gal and administrative processes. The people’s opinion should
also be accommodated. The mega-disaster such as the case of
Tambora however has totally crosscut the procedure. The his-
tory was changed within an overnight. Such a calamity should
always be the warning for all the citizens that a state might
be abolished and the history might be terminated. In larger
scale the collision of a huge meteor from the outer space had
changed the course of the history. A caesura in Jurassic age,
200 millions years ago occurred causing dinosaurs and oth-
er big animals vanished. Food shortages were suspected to
be the reason. In this case the popular theory explained that
a gigantic calamity occurred caused by a huge meteor that
crashed down the earth in Yucatan and Mexico bay area.
82
83
Solfatara field at the bottom of Tambora caldera.

84
WILL TAMBORA ERUPT

AT THE SAME SCALE IN
THE FUTURE?
85
86
87
88
Fig. 31. Ring of Fire yang melingkar dari Amerika Selatan

melalui Kepulauan Indonesia hingga Selandia baru.
89
Fig 32. Peta Sebaran 127 Gunungapi aktif di Indonesia.

(Sumber PVMBG)
The ring of fire
Indonesia is endowed with many active volcanoes that contin-

uously present natural fertilizer. No wonder therefore, the ar-
eas around the volcanoes are densely populated. As many as
129 active volcanoes spread over a 7,000 kilometres volcanic
belt extending from Aceh at the tip of Sumatera to North Su-
lawesi in the North through Java, Nusa Tenggara and Maluku.
90
The volcanic belt is parts of the global volcanic systems name-

ly the Pacific and the Mediterranean system. The two systems
combined themselves in Indonesian Archipelago. Naturally In-
donesia harbours most of the active volcanoes of the world
numbering to 13% out of the total amount.
The western part of Indonesia belonged to the Medi-
terranean system which extends from Italy, through Himala-
ya to Indonesia. The segment between Turkey and Himalaya
91
are predominated by earthquake, whilst in Mediterranean and

Indonesia both by earthquake and volcano. The Eastern part
of Indonesian Archipelago belongs to the belt circling Pacif-
ic Ocean covering the Philippines, Japan, Kamchatka, Kurile,
Aleut, Alaska, West America, South America, South Pole, New
Zealand, New Guinea and Indonesia. The belt covers a dis-
tance of around 100 thousands kilometres harbouring more
than 800 active volcanoes that always lighting fires. It is there-
fore people use to call the volcanic belt surrounding Pacific as
the Pacific’s Ring of Fire.
The location of Tambora in the tectonic framework
The occurrence of the fire out of the volcano has long been
the attention of the people. The Romans believed that the God
of War by name of Vulkan used to make the weapon out of
iron using fire. His black smith was located under the Vulkan
volcano in Italy, thereupon the name of volcanology derived.
Further as science progresses, people believe that the fire
came from the radioactive minerals located under the mantle
of the earth’s crust.
With the advance of technology, in the middle of last
century people found that the earth’s crust was laterally
moved, though it was extremely slow of less than 6 cm annu-
ally. The collision between the segments of the earth’s crust
produced heat manifested in the fire of the volcano. Such a
theory called plate tectonic theory explains the distribution of
volcanoes along the line called volcanic belt.
Tambora is located at about the middle of the volcanic
belt of Indonesia which extends from Aceh to North Sulawe-
si through Java, Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. The collision of
Indo-Australia tectonic plate from the south and the Eurasian
plate in the north generates the molten rock of magma. It is
believed that Tambora is located in a very complicated tectonic
position, taking account the existence of Sumba Island which
92
supposedly derived as a fraction from Eurasian continent. A

transition zone must have occurred in NW-SE direction cross-
ing through Tambora. This particular situation placed Tambora
in a weak zone, permitting magma to penetrate to the earth’s
surface.
Fig 33. Model Tektonik Lempeng Nusa Tenggara

(Sumber : Sudradjat, 1988)
The volcanological history of Tambora
Tambora had been quiescence for 4,000 years before the gi-
gantic eruption of 1815. In the past the eruption was predom-
inated by lava flowing down from the central of the volcano.
The oldest lava was dated back to 690,000 years ago which
was followed by younger lava flows. As many as 10 lava flows
with different age were found. The youngest lava flow pouring
down from the central vent was age dated 9000 years ago.
93
Fig34. shows the bird’s eye view on Tambora. The upper slope consisted
of alternation between lava flows and pyroclastic deposit forming strato
volcano which was characterized by steep slope. The middle slope was
predominated by lava flows which were reflected in the Hawaiian-like type
shield morphology. The relatively flat lower slope consisted of fragments
of the eroded upper slope and the head of the lava flows. The figure was
derived from the processed satellite 94
image (Illustration by Adjat Sudradjat)
95
96
97
The composition of the rocks showed a fluctuated sil-

ica content ranging between 49% and 53%. The rocks were
categorized as andesite basalt and basaltic andesite. It gave
the impression that Tambora had been very effusive in the
past. The evidence of lava flows exposed in the foot of the
inner crater’s rim with the age of 86,000 years ago might in-
dicate that the characteristic of the eruption began to shift to
the alternation of lava and pyroclastic rocks. The development
of stratovolcano commenced about 86,000 years ago. The
change of the character might be observed from the break
in slope at the elevation of 2,000 meters above sea level. Ac-
cording to the reference the effusive stage was interpreted to
build the volcano until the height of 1,800 meters.
The development of a new body of the stratovolcano
was supported by the strong foundation of the previous prod-
ucts chiefly consisted of lava flows. The development of the
volcano therefore was very stable to reach the altitude of al-
most 4,200 meters.
The burden caused by the pile of the lava flows depos-
ited at the upper part of the slope, made the magma squeezed
into the slope at the altitude between 1,000 and 1,500 ele-
vations producing the flank eruption. The composition of the
rocks is similar with those of the lava flows produced by the
central crater of the volcano. This situation indicated that the
roof of the magma chamber located more than 3,000 meters
below the crater perhaps in the order of 5 to 10 kilometres.
The lava plug filling the diatrema must be more than 3,000
kilometres most likely of the order of 5 kilometres. That was
the reason of the long duration of initial eruption commencing
from 1812 that took place for 3 years. The stage represented
the period of destruction of the lava plug of more than 3,000
meters long in the diatrema.
The first period of effusive flank eruption activities took
place about 80,000 years ago in the northern slope of the vol-
cano. The activity moved back to the central crater and con-
98
tinued until 9,600 years ago. The activities were followed by

the second period of flank eruption with the oldest lava flows
dated back to 9,400 years. The eruption took place in opposite
of the first lava flow period in the southern slope. The young-
est lava flows of this period was 400 years ago indicating the
last eruption before the 1815 eruption. In contact with the
heat from the liquefied lava flows, ground water accumulated
the high pressure of steam. Finally the steam exploded bring-
ing along gas and the cinder out of the parent rocks. As many
as 40 cinder cones were identified in the beach and the foot
of the volcano until the elevation of 1,000 meters above sea
level. This situation indicated the intake area of the ground
water were located at the upper slope above the elevation of
1,000 meters. This cinder cones did not directly related to the
magmatic activity.
Fig 35. Penampang stratigrafi endapan hasil Letusan Gunung Tambora

April 1815 (Sumber: Igan S Sutawidjaja)
99
The rocks produced by Tambora contained leucite, a

mineral with high content of calcium. This phenomenon indi-
cated that magma was originated from a very great depth of
70 to 100 kilometres. It was possible also that the magma in
the upper chamber might have been contaminated with calci-
um derived from the limestone of the Tertiary age exposed in
North West foot of Tambora volcano. This type of volcano is
comparable to the isolated volcano such as Muria Volcano in
Central Java. After the destruction phase this type of volcano
usually will be quiet for a relatively long period.
Pyroclastic flows and Pyroclastic fall of Tambora Vol-

cano
The pyroclastic flow travels along the slope, while pyroclastic

fall pours down from the sky. The pyroclastic flow destroys
and kills instantly the surroundings. The pyroclastic fall covers
the large area with ash blanket. The crops and plants died
because of dehydration and the overburden. The starvation
might break because of food shortage. The diarrhoea is the
most common disease because drinking water is contaminat-
ed. In the 1815 Tambora eruption as many 82 thousand peo-
ple died because of the danger related to ash fall.
In the last 690,000 years Tambora produced chiefly
lava. This type of volcano generally erupted peacefully eject-
ing effusive rocks which flow down along the slope. The most
known volcano of this type is the volcanoes in Hawaiian Island.
The magma originated from oceanic crust. Tambora volcano
on the other hand is located in the island arc environment.
Therefore about 100,000 years ago the volcano changed its
character from dominantly effusive to highly explosive produc-
ing the alternation between lava flows and pyroclastic. The
type of danger changed from the relatively peaceful eruption
to more hazardous explosion. Finally the catastrophic eruption
took place in 1815.
100
Fig 36. Demonstrates the mechanism of pyroclastic flow (nuée ardénte or glowing cloud) in Tambora
1815 eruption. (a) the case with pyroclastic flow directed to Pekat, where this city was not buried
(above). Hot strong wind (hurricane) destroyed the kingdom. (b) The steam jet produced by contact
between pyroclastic flow heading north (Tambora Kingdom) and East (Pekat Kingdom)
101
Fig 37. The map shows the distribu-

tion of pyroclastic flows with their
movements indicated by dashed lines
and arrows, the hachure area was
not covered by pyroclastic flow de-
posits because topograph cally high.
Note that Pekat was panthy buried
by pyroclastic deposit, while kadin-
din was deeply buried (modified from
geologic map of Tambora 1:100.000
by Kartadinata, et al; 2008)
Fig 38. Endapan abu dan aliran piroklastik hasil

letusan Tambora 1815, selatan desa Doropeti.
102
103
In the explosive stage of Tambora the deadliest prod-

ucts was the pyroclastic flows. These phenomena might hap-
pen in different way. In 1815 explosion of Tambora, the col-
lapse of pyroclastic column might have caused the pyroclastic
flow to all direction or known as Saint Vincent type. The py-
roclastic flow is sometimes called glowing cloud or nuée ar-
dénte. The temperature of the rocks ranged between 600 and
8000 C. The flow travelled at the speed about 60 kilometres
in an hour, depending upon the slope of the volcano and the
material content.
The pyroclastic flow swept the area with whirl or turbulent
wind. Trees might have been truncated by the whirl wind of
Tambora 1815 eruption. It also happened with horse, cattle,
human beings and houses. After the destruction, the flow
buried the ruin with pyroclastic flow deposit. In Tambora it
ranged between 2 meters to 10 meters, depending upon its
position. In Kedindin area at Pekat, 2 meters of the deposits
were observed. Figure 37 shows the origin and occurrence of
pyroclastic flows.
Based on geologic map of Tambora, it appeared that
Pekat was not buried by the pyroclastic flow. The hot and
strong wind or hurricane generated by the secondary eruption
must have destroyed the Kingdom. Pyroclastic flow reached
Kedindin village located east of the capital city of Pekat and to-
tally buried. Now Kedindin becomes the target of excavation.
The pyroclastic flow directed to North where Tambora
Kingdom was located entered the sea and produced steam jet.
It also produced the hot air wave which destroyed the Pekat
Kingdom. The same case with Sanggar Kingdom located in the
east. The pyroclastic flow generated tsunami which inundated
Sanggar peninsula, East Java and Ternate. Floating materials
consisting mainly of pumice and tree trunks spread over the
sea around the peninsula.
The pyroclastic flows in 1815 eruption of Tambora vol-
cano had been the most killing volcanic product. It was re-
104
ported that from approximately 12,000 inhabitants living in

this area, only 26 persons survived. King of Sanggar and his
family were amongst those who survive. The pyroclastic flow
deposits in eastern slope contained chiefly coarse materials,
whereas in western slope the deposits contained much more
ash and less the larger materials. The phenomenon related
with prevailing monsoonal wind blowing from East to West.
The volcanological analysis of the 1815 eruption
Within 4,000 years at the quiescence period it was most likely

that in the magma chamber the differentiation had took place
leaving the acidic rocks to concentrate in the upper part of the
chamber. The silica content of the rocks might reach above 54
% as the evidence of the pyroclastic flow deposit of the 1815
eruption. The concentration of the acidic magma perhaps was
intruded by the basaltic magma of the origin composition with
silica less than 49 or 50%. Magma mixing might have been
taking place producing more gases and steam. The accumu-
lated pressure later out broke the plug.
Because the magma chamber was deep the initial erup-
tion took place as long as 3 years from 1812 to 1815. Fur-
thermore, the lava plug in the diatrema was also very long
and needed a longer time to destruct. During this process
rumbling were frequently heard by the people coming from
the depth of the volcano. In the modern days the phenomena
would easily be detected by the seismograph.
The destruction might take place at the weak zone in
the contact between the plug and the host rocks. The first
hole might have been formed supposedly in the west side ac-
companied by loud sounds on April 5, 1815. The ashes were
blown to the air strongly because the hole was still relatively
small. The kingdoms around the volcano had only experienced
relatively light pyroclastic and ash falls. No significant victims
were reported at this stage. In fact this was the first warn-
105
Fig 39. Lake Moti Lahalo ...................................

ing to flee, however 30 kilometres distance from the crater

was quite far to be fear of the eruption. In normal situation,
the danger zone is only at the radius of 10 kilometres from
the crater. It was understandable that the kings of Pekat and
Tambora did not evacuate. Between April 5 and April 10 the
destruction process continued although with lower intensity.
The second stage commenced on April 10 at 7:00 pm.
At this stage two other holes were formed, most likely one in
the east and another one in the west judging from the dis-
106
tribution of the pyroclastic flow deposits which were larger

in the west and less in the east. These three columns of fire
were witnessed by the people. It was not until 20:00 pm the
three columns coalesced and formed the big fire column which
partly slid down due to the heavy contents of the glowing
rocks resulting in the glowing clouds or pyroclastic flow. Peo-
ple witnessed these phenomena that the fire became larger
and finally covered the whole upper slope of the volcano. At
this stage the lava plug had totally been destroyed accompa-
107
Fig 40. ...................................

(Sketch by Adjat Sudrajat)
108
109
nied by loud sounds which were heard in Batavia and Bang-

ka. The peak of the eruption was called paroxysm where the
maximum energy was released. During the paroxysmal stage
the pyroclastic flow rushed down to all directions along the
slope. The pyroclastic flow to the west reached a distance of
about 30 kilometres, whilst to the north and east entered the
sea producing secondary eruptions and tsunami. The flow that
went down to the south was hampered by the old volcano.
The biggest part of the hole seemed to be located
in the west producing more pyroclastic flow to the western
slope. The opening of the hole gave channel to the pressing
magma to blow out with very high speed producing rumblings
and repeated loud sounds. The blow out of magma had wid-
ened the coalesced holes and finally in combination with the
gravitational collapse a caldera of 7 kilometres diameter was
formed. This evidence was supported by the fact that the new
magma activity in 1847 penetrated the bottom of the caldera
in the contact with the rim in the west side. The cinder cone
formation continued until 1913.
Will Tambora repeat the deadliest eruption?
The prediction on the behaviour of a volcano in the future is

very difficult. However some clues might lead to the knowl-
edge of the general trend of the activity. The silica content
supposed to be most indicative amongst many other indica-
tors. The recent activity of Tambora was the eruption of cinder
and effusive rocks through a small vent called Doro Afi Toi
located at the bottom of the caldera. The activity took place
from 1847 to 1913. Lava tongue extended to 350 meters long.
The height of the cone exceeded 60 meters.
The chemical analysis on the lava tongue showed the
composition of basaltic andesite with 52.11 % of silica, which
is quite normal. The analysis of the fragments in the pyro-
clastic flows of 1815 eruption showed the silica content of
110
56.74%. Judging from this evidence it seems that the present

situation does not show any suspects of the increasing activi-
ty. The volcano has been at the solfatara stage since 1913. As
many as 21 groups of solfatara were found in the foot of the
inner wall of the rim. It indicated that the caldera might have
been formed by the structural collapse.
The huge amount of energy released in 1815 Tambora
eruption made it rather difficult to accumulate such a similar
energy within a short period. The quiescence stage of Tambora
before the gigantic eruption was 400 years. Furthermore, the
rocks produced within 69,000 years were basaltic lava with a
little variation of andesitic lava. In such a long period Tambora
had been very much effusive. The eruption of 1815 was the
result of the accumulation of the energy within 69,000 years.
Based on those evidences the eruption of such a large
scale equivalent to the 1815 eruption most likely would not
happen within a thousand years to come. However moderate
eruptions of vulcanian type or the effusive eruption might be
normal to take place within the period of 100 to 200 years in
the future. This type of eruption would not be as deadliest as
the 1815 eruption because the pyroclastic rocks would be con-
tained in the deep and large caldera already formed in 1815.
The destruction phase had already happened in 1815
eruption. Normally the next stage would be the construction.
The eruption would accumulate the pyroclastic rocks rather
than to blow it out. It is also possible that Tambora will return
to the previous stage predominated by effusive activity as the
case during the last 69,000 years. In such a case, the degree
of danger would be relatively low.
In conclusion it is very unlikely the catastrophic erup-
tion equivalent to 1815 eruption would take place in Tambora
within a thousand years to come. In normal situation the area
with the radius of 10 kilometres from the crater should always
be considered as dangerous and permanently forbidden for
human activities.
111
The Tambora heritage and its surroundings
The 1815 eruption of Tambora volcano had left the area with-
out occupancy for quite sometimes. Therefore the volcano had
been declared as the reserved site under the management of
the forestry institution. The Tambora heritage consist of the
proper Tambora and the back ups at the surrounding. The hik-
ing to the crater is the real adventure. The observation on the
deadliest pyroclastic deposits at the slope of Tambora volcano
might be interesting for the geo-lovers because it contains
scientific materials. The visit to Pompeii of the East where
buried houses with human corpses were excavated might be
recommendable.
The 1815 eruption was considered extra ordinary geo-
logical phenomena. It was the biggest and deadliest erup-
tion in modern human history and the impact to the weather
that changed the world. The unique culture had also perished.
Three kingdoms vanished. The impact on weather needs fur-
ther study particularly for human being to cope with the prob-
lem of global warming.
The back ups consists of various tourist destination. Sa-
tonda Island located some 30 kilometres North West of Tam-
bora preserved the pioneer of life in our planet in the form
of bacteria which able to produce oxygen and carbon dioxide
favourable for living. Moyo Island, West of Tambora was said
to be chosen by Princess Diana of Great Britain to retreat from
the “paparazzi” hunters.
The other back up is a visit to the deepest hole in South-
east Asia, namely the gold-copper mining in Batu Hijau (Green
Stone) 120 kilometres southwest of Tambora. A large number
of copper and gold deposits have been mined from this site
leaving a gigantic hole about the same size with Tambora cal-
dera. The environment was managed in such a professional
and unique way. The tailing was deposited deep in the sea
floor.
112
The Tambora adventure
The Tambora adventure consists of volcano hiking and the ob-

servation of the 1815 pyroclastic deposits. In the past the hik-
ing might consume some 4 to 5 days to arrive at the crater’s
rim. However nowadays within 6 to 7 hours one might reach
the crater by 4-wheel drive vehicle and continued by foot. The
hike begins from Doropeti at the south coast of Tambora.
The first leg is Doropeti to Dorocanga along the coast
and the second leg from Dorocanga to the point with elevation
of 1,823 meters above sea level, the so called Pos-3. From
here by foot is the last leg which might be accomplished within
2 hours. There are many others tracks to hike, amongst others
from Kawinda in the north and from Calabai, Desa Pancasila
in the west. From the East the hike might commence from
Sangari.
The other adventure is the track in the lower slope of
Tambora volcano. The pyroclastic deposits consisting chiefly
of pumice might be observed with a typical topography form-
ing circular small hills with a few centimeters high and 1 to 2
meters diameter. The landscape was vegetated by savannah
grass suitable to raise horse and cattle. Ignimbrite deposits
are readily observable in the lower slope of the volcano.
Finally the observation of the pyroclastic deposits con-
tinues to the site of the buried houses which remains people
to the famous buried city of Pompeii in Italy. (tambahkan hal
100 dari Tambora Indonesia)
Flora and fauna
Sumber Daya Alam Flora dan Fauna, Kawasan konservasi

Gunung Tambora berdasarkan Surat Keputusan Menteri Ke-
hutanan No. 418/Kpts-II/1999 tanggal 15 Juni 1999 memiliki
luas 71.645,74 Ha. Saat ini kawasan konservasi tersebut terdi-
ri atas tiga fungsi yaitu Cagar Alam seluas 23.840,81 Ha, Sua-
113
Fig 41. Jenis-jenis Pohon di Gunung Tambora (Foto: Gede Mertha)
ka Margasatwa seluas 21.674,68 Ha dan Taman Buru seluas

26.130,25 Ha. Kondisi bentang lahan yang sangat luas yang
merupakan gunungapi aktif memiliki keterwakilan ekosistem
yang cukup lengkap mulai dari hutan dataran rendah sampai
hutan dataran tinggi.
Tropical forest in Tambora provides unique species for
flora and fauna lovers. Tambora is located in the Wallace zone.
Birds watch would be very interesting because many specific
birds, the transition between west and east live in this area.
114
Fig 42. Jenis-jenis Burung di Gunung Tambora (Foto: Gede Mertha)
The savannah is quite favorable for deer to breed which be-

comes an interesting area for hunting.
Flora in Tambora among others is Duabanga (Duaban-
ga moluccana), Pulai (Althonis scholaris), Kesambi (Schleic-
era oleosa), and Asam (Tamarindus indica). Coffee has been
cultivated since 1893. Tambora coffee is very special.
Birds consist of Kokiu (Philemon buceroides), Gosong
(Megapodius reinwardtii), Perkici (Tricoglosus haematodus),
Kakatua (Cacatua selphurea) and others. Animals are Rusa
115
(Cervus timorensis), Kera (Macaca fascicularis), Landak

(Hystrx javanica), snakes and many others.
Selain berfungsi sebagai kawasan pengawetan keane-
karagaman jenis tumbuhan dan satwa, Cagar Alam, Suaka
Margasatwa, Taman Buru Gunung Tambora juga berfungsi
sebagai kawasan perlindungan sistem penyangga kehidupan
terutama bagi desa-desa yang ada di-
sekitar Tambora. Kondisi topografi kawasan yang berupa ba-
gian gunung Tambora dengan vegetasi lebat merupakan ka-
wasan yang menjadi sumber air bagi daerah pemukiman di
sekitarnya. Kawasan ini juga dapat dimanfaatkan untuk pe-
Fig 43. Satonda island see from .....................
116
nelitian dan pengembangan, pendidikan dan kegiatan penun-

jang budidaya serta untuk kegiatan wisata alam terbatas.
The origin of life in Satonda
The primitive life of bacteria called stromatolite was believed

to be the origin of life in our planet. The extreme environment
about 600 millions years ago was only conducive for particular
species with very simple structure mostly a single cell. The
low oxygen and low carbon dioxide content in the air was the
main reason flora and fauna enabled to grow and developed.
117
Fig 44. Gapura masuk menuju Danau Satonda.
Surprisingly such a primitive species is preserved in Satonda

crater’s lake. Although it is separated from the sea, the lake
water is salty with the pH of 8.27.
The bacteria stromatolite was able to carry out pho-
tosynthesis process producing oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Therefore it might be said that this species was the pioneer of
the life in our planet. After those gases sufficiently available on
the earth, other flora and fauna came into being.
Stromatolite is found only in Satonda Island and north-
east of Australia. This typical bacteria living in Satonda cra-
ter’s lake has become the subject of research. Many scientists
came here to reveal the mystery of the beginning of life. The
island is located about 30 kilometres northwest of Tambora. It
118
is easily reached from Sumbawa Besar, the capital of Sumba-

wa Regency, directly or via Moyo Island.
Moyo Island of paradise
It was said that Moyo Island had been chosen by Princess

Diana of Great Britain to retreat and hid from the “paparazzi”.
Indeed Moyo Island is the place for a total tranquility, where
tourists might be relaxing. The island is located west of Tam-
bora in the gate of Saleh Bay, northern part of Sumbawa Is-
land. The size of the island is about 30 kilometres long 20
kilometer wide forming a triangular shape facing northwest.
Moyo Island could be reached from Sumbawa Besar the capi-
tal city of Sumbawa Regency where the airport is located. The
distance to the capital city is about 15 kilometres south east
of the island.
The island is covered by tropical forest with mangrove
in the coastal area. In the middle of the island savannah dom-
inates the landscape. Deer are the animals living here and
also raised. Many species of beautiful birds occupied trees in
Fig 45. Moyo Island (http://upload.wikimedia.org)
119
the tropical forest. The island is also famous with the tropical
honey.
Water falls are found in many places. Underground wa-
ter is kept in the porous limestone at the hilly parts in the
middle of the island. The limestone with its typical karst to-
pography provides caves for geo-adventure. Marine adventure
in the coastal area is similarly attractive. Fresh coral reefs and
colourful fishes are readily admired.
120
Fig 46. Batuhijau Mine.....................
The deepest hole of Batu Hijau
The deepest hole has been dug by the mining company to

extract the gold and copper from the rocks in Batu Hijau area.
Literary Batu Hijau means Green Stone. It indicates mineral
called malachite an oxidized form of copper showing green
colour. The mining site is located some 120 kilometres from
Tambora. The reserve was estimated to be about 1.1 billion
121
tons of ore consisting of 0.5% of copper and 0.37 gram/ton

gold. At present the hole reached the elevation 0f 105 meters
below sea level and it will continue to 450 meters below sea
level. The original topography was 460 meters above sea lev-
el. The hole finally will have the depth of 910 meters or similar
depth with Tambora caldera. The diameter of the hole is also
comparable to Tambora caldera namely 5 to 7 kilometres.
The unique thing in this mining activity is the tailing was
dumped at the sea floor at the depth of 150 meters depth. The
environment in the land is well managed to keep the forest
green. The open pit mining like Batu Hijau needs the huge size
dump trucks which uniquely some are driven by ladies.
Sumbawa in the triple junction of the tourist destina-

tions
Sumbawa is located in such away surrounded by world tourist

destinations already developed. The triple tourist destination
of Bali-Toraja-Komodo is easily accessible from Sumbawa Is-
land as the transit area from Australia as well as from the
west. Augmented with Tambora which already has the world
reputation due to the impact of its 1815 eruption the Sumba-
wa Island to be the centre for the already developed tourist
destinations might be prospective.
Tambora as one of the destination together with other
places such as Satonda, Moyo Island and the Great Hole of
Batu Hijau might play important role to develop the tourism in
Sumbawa Island. The Pompeii of the East and the other king-
doms now exist with the historical background seems to be a
great ingredient for the progress of the tourism in Sumbawa
Island. It might be wise to add the closing note: Sumbawa is
the entrance to the wonderful natural heritage.
122
Living in harmony with Tambora
Based on the record of the activities in the past, the coming

eruption with such a magnitude similar to the 1815 eruption
is unlikely within a thousand years to come. However small or
mild eruptions might take place. In minimizing the danger a
volcanic hazard map was already prepared by the institution
dealing with volcanoes. The gigantic crater left by the 1815
eruption provides the space to deposit the materials come out
from the diatrema. It naturally will reduce the danger.
The volcanic hazard zone normally covers the summit
area with the diameter of 10 kilometres from the central of the
caldera. The first danger zone forbids people to live. The sec-
ond danger zone extends the diameter up to 15 kilometres. In
this zone people must be alert. The alert zone also extends up
to 20 to 30 kilometres along the river which might be danger-
ous due to the flood bringing volcanic materials the so called
lahars. Understanding the zoning area of the hazard, people
might live peacefully in harmony with the volcano.
Toward the Geopark of Tambora
Geopark is a terms designated to an area where the geologi-

cal heritage with ecological importance together with cultural
heritage is combined for conservation, education and sustain-
able development. Geoheritage is a concept to represent the
geological phenomena with very high value which relates each
other as part of earth dynamics. The eruption of Tambora vol-
cano might be classified as very special, very rare, and was
categorized as the biggest and deadliest eruption in the mod-
ern human history. The impact of the eruption has changed
the history of the world. Further the dust ejected to the strato-
sphere remains very important for further atmospheric study,
in particular for human being to cope with the impending dan-
ger of the global warming.
123
After the gigantic eruption of 1815, Tambora area

remained vacant. The government decided to preserve the
area for the conservation. The tropical forest now has already
grown up covering the upper and middle slope of the volcano.
The lower slopes are productive for the local people to culti-
vate and raise animals.
The 1815 eruption buried the kingdoms, vanish the cul-
ture and the language. This unique situation is one of the re-
quirements to propose the area for the geopark heritage. The
comparison with Pompeii in Italy and Pompeii of the East is
also very unique. The disappearance of the whole inhabitants
of the kingdoms causes the break in the course of the history,
or the caesure in the history is also rare and unique.
The conservation area in Tambora is divided into sanc-
tuary, preservation and hunting park. Such large variations of
the heritage, among others flora and fauna, unique landscape,
the geology and volcanological process, the buried culture
brings the area to be proposed as the national geopark. The
process has already been underway. The geopark will preserve
all the evidence related particularly to the deadliest eruption in
modern human history, the 1815 Tambora eruption.
The forest management with various kind of utilization
of reserved area is already in operation in Tambora Volcano.
The legal aspects consisting of various regulations have al-
ready in place. Therefore it is quite prospective to propose
Tambora as the candidate for the geopark. The process might
accelerate in conjunction with the bicentennial commemora-
tion of Tambora 1815 eruption in 2015.
The extra-ordinary volcanological phenomena and the
cultural heritage found in Tambora area are very unique and
important for scientific studies. The moment of bicentennial
commemoration provides the right time to proceed with the
preposition toward the realization of Tambora geopark.
Potensi Taman Nasional dan Geopark Gunung Tambora, da-
lam upaya memanfaatkan potensi sumber daya alam berupa flora-
124
fauna, dan sumber daya alam geologi yang terdapat di ka-

wasan Gunung Tambora dengan tetap menjaga kelestarian
serta memberi manfaat bagi masyarakat sekitar, maka selain
ditetapkan menjadi Taman Nasional Gunung Tambora perlu
dilanjutkan menjadi Geopark Gunung Tambora.
Upaya yang telah dilakukan oleh Kementerian Kehutan-
an melalui Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam (BKSDA) Nusa
Tenggara Barat (NTB), atas permohonan Gubernur NTB agar
kawasan Gunung Tambora dijadikan Taman Nasional. Dari
hasil kajian berdasarkan melakukan kajian dari aspek, fisik
kawasan, bioekologi dan sosial ekonomi dan budaya telah di-
peroleh sebagai berikut, Taman Nasional dibuat sesuai den-
gan luas kawasan (Suaka Margasatwa, Cagar Alam dan taman
Buru) yaitu 71.645,74 Ha.
Konsep geopark adalah memaduserasikan unsur-un-
sur kera-gaman biologi (bio-diversity), keragaman geologi
(geo-diversity), dan keragaman budaya (cultural-diversity).
Konsep ini sangat cocok untuk dilakukan di berbagai kawasan,
baik kawasan konservasi maupun kawasan budi daya, kare-
na memiliki tujuan yang sejalan dengan prinsip-prinsip umum
pengelolaan taman nasional, diantaranya yaitu, konservasi,
edukasi, dan peningkatan ekonomi masyarakat lokal.
Kawasan Tambora didukung dengan kekayaan lanskap
alami serta lanskap budaya yang merupakan sebuah potensi
untuk pengembangan kepariwisataan secara ekowisata den-
gan pola pengembangan kolaborasi atau Destination Manage-
ment Organisation (DMO).
Pemberdayaan masyarakat melalui pengembangan
ekonomi kreatif. Potensi Sumber daya Alam yang dapat dikem-
bangkan:
a. Situs artefak yang tertimbun hasil erupsi Gunung Tam-
bora 1815;
b. Kaldera Tambora 1815 sebagai areal Jungle Tracking;
c. Perkebunan kopi Tambora (1896);
125
d. Padang Savana sebagai potensi Peternakan dan Ta-

man Buru;
e. Pulau Satonda dan Danau Satondanya;
f. Lebah, Madu, Satwa Liar ;
g. Pohon Kelelawar dan Pantai Nangamiro; ***
126
127
................................................................ (Photo by Wahibur Rahman)
128
INTRODUCING THE
BEAUTY OF INDONESIAN
VOLCANOES
129
1815 eruption products
1815 eruption products are composed of airfall pumice and

ash deposits, surge deposits, and pyroclastic flow deposits.
The erupted volume is estimated to be about 50 km3 (Self et
al., 1984; Sigurdsson and Carey, 1987). About 40% of the to-
tal volume is derived from co-ignimbrite ash fall deposit (Sig-
urdsson and Carey, 1987). 1815 eruption products are homo-
geneous in chemical composition (Si02=57% ), and consist of
clinopyroxene-biotite trachyandesite. Si02 % of matrix glass
ranges from 56 to 59% (Self et al., 1984; Sigurdsson and Car-
ey, 1989). Gabbro-diorite xenoliths are found mainly in pumice
fall deposits.
Post-caldera volcanism I
The present Doro Api Toi is a post-caldera scoria cone about

10 m in height and 90 m in a diameter, and still steaming.
Doro Api Toi was a 60 m high cone with a 350-m-long lava flow
in 1947 (Petroeschevsky, 1949). Thus, a considerable part of
Doro Api Toi has been buried in fluvial sands and gravels since
it formed. The total volume in 1947 is roughly estimated to
be 0.001 km ‘. Doro Api Toi must have been formed during
the period of 1847-1913 (Neumann van Padang, 1951). The
existence of Doro Api Toi was first reported by Pannekoek van
Rheden in 1913 (Petroeschevsky, 1949). Zollinger did not see
Doro Api Toi in I 847 (Zollinger, 1855). However, it was per-
haps difficult for Zollinger to discern the absence of Doro Api
Toi during a one hour’s visit at the caldera rim (Sigurdsson
and Carey, 1992). Doro Api Toi consists of olivine-clinopyrox-
ene basaltic trachyandesite (Si02=52% ). White hydrothermal
minerals have precipitated on the surface of the cone.
We could not find small hills about 10 m high on the
western floor except Doro Api Toi, which were described by
130
Petroeschevsky ( 1949). Probably these have also been bur-

ied. A series of low hills on the northeastern floor which were
described by Petroeschevsky (1949) and Sigurdsson and Car-
ey (1992). They are 5 m high hills composed of heteroge-
neous lava blocks. Neither fumarolic activity nor craters are
found on the top, unlike Doro Api Toi. They may be partly
buried mounds of deposits caused by small landslide or rock
avalanches off the caldera wall.
Dikes
The dominant trend of dikes is NW-SE. However, the distribu-

tions of dikes around the caldera wall and scoria cones on the
foot of the volcano show subradial pattern. More than 50 dikes
are exposed around the caldera wall (Figs. 4a, 4c). They range
in thickness from 1 to 3 m, and are rare along the northern
to northeastern caldera wall in the direction toward Kawinda
Toi volcano. Only three flank eruption sites correlated to Tam-
bora volcano are found on the flank of Kawinda Toi volcano.
No dikes are found along western caldera wall, especially in
the craters filled with lava flows of YTV II (Fig. Sa). Outside of
the western caldera wall, on the volcano flanks, a few dikes
intrude OTV (Fig. 4b).
Dikes along the northwestern caldera wall cutting YTV
I or YTV II eruption products, may belong to dikes during
YTV I or YTV II, because scoria cones corresponding to YTV
III are not observed on the northwestern flank except Gubu
Panda scoria cone. Dikes along the southern to southwestern
caldera wall, intruding YTV II eruption products, correspond to
YTV II, because scoria cones corresponding to YTV III are not
observed on the southwestern flank except Doro Mboha scoria
cone. Dikes along the eastern to southern caldera wall, cutting
YTV III eruption products, belong to YTV III, and are correlat-
ed to scoria cones of YTV III on the eastern to southern flank.
131
Altered dikes on the lower part of the eastern caldera wall, in-
truding YTV I or YTV II eruption products may belong to dikes
during YTV I or YTV II.
Faults and fractures
Six lineaments along the northwestern caldera wall, dippim;

11011liwurd with apparent dips of 10-30°, appear to be a
part of u-shaped faults witl: ;1 low :111gk 0’a1 \ii Fig. 4a; Fig.
Sb). They extend for 1-2 km. They are disconcordant with tlw
.-.cd1111~•111a1•y structure of YTV I and YTV II, and are
cut by younger dikes cmpl.u’cd dt1ring YTV 11. They may
have been formed mainly during YTV II. A deeply dissected,
v-shaped valley developed on Ilic southwestern culdcrn rim, as
shown in Fig. Sc, and opened to the southwestern flank, judg-
ing from SAR inwgcs and air photographs. Along the valley on
the caldera wall, a lcw prominent. pnrullcl, vertical fractures
are found (Frz of Fig. 4c; Fig.Sc). V-shaped palcovallcyx lll lcd
with thick YTV II lava flows are also observed in the caldera
wall of YTV II eruption products. As they are intruded by dikes
of YTV II, they may have been formed muinly during YTV IL
Sector collapses
Two sector collapses occurred during YTV II and between YTV

II and YTV III, respectively. On the eastern caldera wall, a
gently u-shapcd valley 2-2.5 km wide and 200-300 m deep,
bounded by a local unconformity cutting YTV II lava flows,
is filled with YTV II lava flows (left Sc of Fig.4 ). A large val-
ley is developed on the eastern flank as an extension of the
valley on the caldera wall. Another u-shaped valley on the
southeastern caldera wall is 1 km wide and 300 m deep, and
is filled with thick lava flows in correspondence with the lower
part of YTV III lava flows (right Sc of Fig. 4a and Sc of Fig. 4c;
132
Fig.5d). The valley on the caldera wall is connected to a large

valley on the southeastern flank. The deposits related to those
sector collapses cannot be found at the foot of the volcano.
Because the vertical drop of more than 2.S km causes the
runout of more than 20 km (Ui, 1983), the collapsed deposits
may have traveled into the sea.
MEANING, FUNCTION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF GEOPARKS

A geopark is an area with a geological heritage of significance,
with a coherent and strong management structure and where
a sustainable economic development strategy is in place. A
geopark creates enhanced employment opportunities for the
people who live there bringing sustainable and real economic
benefit, usually through the development of sustainable tour-
ism.
In the framework of a geopark, geological heritage and geo-
logical knowledge is shared with the public at large. It is linked
with the natural and cultural environment, which are often
closely related or determined to geology and landscape.
Geopark is a geological heritage which has scientific value
(knowledge), is rarely found in other location (scarcity) and
133
has aesthetical value at different scales. These values are in-

tegrated to form a unique region. Besides as a natural-cultural
recreational site, a geopark also serves as a protection forest
and site for geoscience development.
As a natural heritage, geological resources located in many
identified areas constitute densely populated areas where eco-
nomic activities are conducted. These activities are usually in
the form of exploitation of mineral resources (ores and rocks).
Although these business activities, especially large–scale,
have secured environmental permitting, changes to landscape
within the identified regional segments are inevitable. Hence,
from conservation point of view use of geological resources as
natural heritage is unlikely to be conducted or recommended
for the location.
An innovative approach to utilize the area with such character-
istics through integration of conservation requirement of geo-
logical resources and existing condition has been promoted by
UNESCO into what is called a GEOPARK.
The Usage of Geodiversity and

Geoheritage for Geopark
The importance of conservation for geoheritage and natural

resources management in Indonesia through geotourism is
very probable and potential. Various morphologies as the re-
sults of rare Earth dynamics which are specific, unique, and
interesting are valuable assets to be developed as geotourist
objects. Inventory of geotourism and Earth elements can be
identified as “geoheritage”.
Indonesia has geodiversity potential to be developed as
geotourism or geopark after being determined as geoheritage.
Six areas having been assessed to have geological wealth was
proposed to be managed as geoparks in accordance with UN-
ESCO standard. The areas are Mount Rinjani (Lombok), Mount
Batur (Bali), Pacitan Karst (East Java), Merangin River (Jam-
bi), Raja Ampat (West Papua), and Toba(North Sumatera).
134
Those geological areas need to be protected because they are

important for research, education, and science.
The available geotourist and tourist objects need to be pre-
served (protected and managed) because they are unique,
rare, beautiful, and useful for education, especially geology as
well as for environment sustainability which is very important
for the human’s life including flora and fauna.
The Terminology of Geodiversity, Geoheritage, and Geopark
Geodiversity and geoheritage have different concept. Valuable

geoheritage area usually has low geodiversity. Geodiversity
which is the absolute wealth of a region was defined by some
people as geoheritage, while the others not. Geodiversity and
geoheritage have to be separately evaluated, because the
methods used are different. Since being proposed in the be-
ginning of 1990’s, geodiversity has become the last concept
although some people defined it differently.
Geodiversity
Geodiversity is defined as the natural occurrence of geologi-

cal (rock, mineral, fossil), geomorphological (landform, natural
physical process), and land phenomena. They include the as-
semblages of geological phenomena, their relationship, prop-
erties, and the working systems (Gray, 2004).
Geodiversity combines all kinds of rocks, minerals, landscapes,
and processes they form along the geological time. The most
famous, rare and extraordinary events may be the track of di-
nosaurs’ feet or mammoth’s tusks although actually there are
still many others and of the same important which all becomes
a small piece of a jigsaw puzzle of a geological event. When
united, they form an insight of past climate, previous
Geoheritage is geological heritage formed naturally and has a
135
very high and extraordinary value because it represents series

of geological records related to each other, so scientifically it is
part of the Earth dynamic history (Komoo, 2003). Some rock
outcrops and landscapes are related to the kinds of existing
heritages. Minerals, fossils, and unique geological elements
can be related to aesthetic value, recreation (tourism), and
culture.
In general, the resources of geological heritage can be used
to promote the values and social advantages which can be
obtained from geological sites and geomorphology (so they
support the conservation).
Geopark
Geopark or Earth park is an area or site of geological heritage

having ecological value and cultural heritage, and it has the
functions for conservation, education, and sustainable devel-
opment.
The geopark terminology here does not only mean as Earth
park related to tourist aspects and conservation, but it has
been a new developing concept since 1999. This concept in-
tegrates the management of geological heritages with cultural
heritages of an area for three main objectives i.e. conserva-
tion, education, and sustainable development.
Therefore, the existence of geopark is not only for the con-
servation and economic missions like a park having various
attractions, but it should also be as a medium for education
and local people empowerment.
Geopark is a concept promoted by UNESCO (2000), and it has
been implemented in many European countries and China. In
principle, geopark is a concept of area development where
some geoheritage potency located close to each other in a
developed area, is managed by integrating conservation prin-
ciples and the existing land use plan (Komoo, 1993).
136
Geological Sites, Culture, and Panorama Aesthetics
Some geoheritages are potential to be developed to be geo-

logical sites in Rinjani Geopark including geomorphological
and lithological aspects. The geological sites also have pan-
orama aesthetics. The natural sites are enriched by cultural
sites created by people living in those areas.
Geomorphology and Rock Sites
1. The Rinjani Peak is located at the altitude of 3,276 m/

asl. having cool weather and very high natural aesthet-
ics. This natural mountainous tourist p o -
tency has various flora and fauna, waterfalls, springs
and hot springs, lakes, and edelweiss flowers as a
natural conservation area of a native ecosystem.
Tambora and Satonda Geoheritage
The geotourism potency in West Sumbawa is part of the

Sumbawa position in the world tourism line of Sulawesi –
Bali – Komodo which have largely known amongst foreign
tourists. Based on secondary data and a geological map of
Sumbawa Quadrangle, we can overview aspects and charac-
teristics of geological objects potentially have tourist attrac-
tions.
Geoheritage conservation is needed to studied, conserva-
tion, and tourism. The more important thing is that conser-
vation and the development of geological formation are the
important parts in environment safeguarding.
West Nusa Tenggara has geodiversity potency to be devel-

oped as geotourism after being determined as geoheritage.
In this case, Tambora and Satonda is geoheritage formed
naturally and they have a high value for representing geo-
137
logical processes related to each other, so scientifically they

are part of the Earth dynamic histories.
Tambora Geoheritage
Mount Tambora (also called Tamboro by some local dialects) is

an active stratovolcano located in Sumbawa Island, Indonesia.
This mount is located in two regencies, Dompu (a part of the
southern foot to the northwestern foot) and Bima Regencies
(a part of southern side to northwest side, and the foot to
the eastern peak to the north), West Nusa tenggara Prov-
ince, precisely at 8015’ S and 1180 E. This mount is located
in an oceanic crust, both in the northern and the southern
sides. Tambora was formed by a subduction zone underneath.
This increase the height of Tambora till 4,300 m that once
made Tambora as the highest mount in the archipelago, and it
drained the large magma chamber inside this mount. It takes
a century to refill the magma chamber. The volcanic activity
reached its historical climax in a super colossal eruption on
10-11 April 1815.
In 2004, an archaeological team found cultural remains buried
by the catastrophic eruption in 1815. They remain untouched
under 3 m (9.8 feet) in pyroclastic deposit. This site is called
Pompeii in the East. Artifacts are taken care of in the position
as they were in 1815.
Mount Tambora is an active volcanic area located in the north-
ern peninsula of Sumbawa Island, and it has a very famous
eruption history in the world. This area has several valuable
geodiversity potencies.
Mount Tambora is part of Sunda Arc, a string of volcanic is-
lands forming the southern chain of the Indonesian Archipel-
ago. Tambora formed its own peninsula in Sumbawa Island,
called Sanggar Peninsula. In the north side of the peninsula,
there is Flores Sea, and in the south side there is Saleh Bay
which is 86 km long and 36 km wide. At the mouth of Saleh
138
139
Bay, there is a small island named Moyo.

Besides seismologists and volcanologists who observe the ac-
tivities of that mount, Mount Tambora is a place for archae-
ological and biological researches. This mount also attracts
tourists to climb it up and observe the activities of animals.
There are two trails to reach the caldera of Mount Tambora.
The first route begins from Doro Mboha Village located in the
southeast side of the mount. This route follows an asphalt-
ed road passing cashew plantation till it reach the altitude of
1,150 m/asl. This route ends in the southern part of the calde-
ra at the altitude of 1,950 m/asl. that can be reached by the
mid-point of the route. This location is usually used for camp-
ing to observe the volcanic activities, because it only takes
an hour to reach the caldera. The second route begins from
Pancasila Village at the northwest of Mount Tambora. If using
the second route, the caldera can only be reached on foot.
Potential geotourism and other tourist objects in Mount Tam-
bora Area related to aspects of geomorphology and geovol-
canology among others are the form of the caldera and the
history of its formation.
Hasil kajian potensi kawasan Gunung Tambora sebagai calon

taman nasional difokuskan pada analisa data primer yang di-
peroleh saat pelaksanaan kegiatan di lapangan yang dipadu
serasikan dengan analisa data sekunder sehingga diperoleh
140
hasil analisa yang refresentatif sebagai dasar penetapan kebi-

jakan pengelolaan kawasan konservasi Gunung Tambora se-
bagai taman nasional.
2. Kajian Geologi
a) Gunung Tambora termasuk gunung api aktif yang sewak-

tu-waktu dapat meningkat aktivitasnya. Namun karena dalam
waktu yang relatif baru (1815) telah meletus sangat besar
dan membentuk kaldera, maka apabila terjadi letusan baru
dengan ancaman berupa aliran lava, aliran piroklastika dan
jatuhan bom, penyebarannya akan terbatas di sekitar kaldera
kecuali material halus berupa abu penyebarannya dapat mel-
uas sesuai arah angin.
b) Bahan erupsi hasil letusan 1815 didominasi oleh endapan
piroklastika berukuran halus sampai bongkah dalam bentuk
aliran dan jatuhan. Sebaran endapan aliran piroklastika be-
rukuran bongkah lebih mendominasi wilayah timur gunung
Tambora ditandai dengan kurangnya hutan dan sekarang ha-
nya menyisakan savana. Sedangkan sebaran endapan aliran
piroklastika berukuran halus (abu dan lapili) lebih mendomi-
nasi wilayah barat gunung Tambora.
c) Kawasan suaka margasatwa, cagar alam, dan taman buru
Gunung Tambora yang akan dijadikan taman nasional, terletak
pada Kawasan Rawan Bencana III, Kawasan Rawan Bencana
II, dan Kawasan Rawan Bencana I. Setiap Kawasan Rawan
Bencana memiliki karateristik bencana yang berbeda, sehing-
ga apabila akan dimanfaatkan perlu mempertimbangkan ting-
kat kerawanan masing-masing kawasan.
d) Gunung Tambora yang akan dirubah fungsi dari suaka mar-
gasatwa, cagar alam, dan taman buru menjadi Taman Nasi-
onal, memiliki potensi geodiversity (keragaman geologi) yang
sangat fenomena, disamping memiliki biodiversity (keragaman
biologi) yang cukup potensial untuk dikonservasi dan diman-
faatkan melalui pengembangan geowisata maupun ekowisata.
141
Kedua potensi tersebut bila ditambah dengan potensi Cultural

diversity (keragaman budaya), maka gabungan ketiga diver-
sity tersebut dapat dikelola secara optimal melalui program
Geopark (Taman Bumi) yang berbasis pada: konservasi, edu-
kasi, dan peningkatan ekonomi masyarakat lokal. Pember-
dayaan masyarakat sekitar melalui pengembangan potensi
hutan dan non hutanyang berkelanjutan di sekitar kawasan
Gunung Tambora, maka ketiga tujuan di atas yaitu, konserva-
si, edukasi, dan peningkatan ekonomi masyarakat lokal dapat
terwujud secara optimal.
3. Kajian Wisata Alam
Kawasan Gunung Tambora memiliki daya tarik wisata yang

cukup potensial apabila dikembangkan secara terpadu. Potensi
wisata alam yang dapat dikembangkan tersebut dikelompok-
kan menjadi beberapa atraksi wisata antara lain wisata alam,
wisata tirta, wisata minat khusus dan wisata ilmiah yang apa-
bila dikembangkan secara optimal akan mampu mendukung
fungsi pokok kawasan taman nasional yaitu untuk pengem-
bangan pariwisata dan rekreasi alam yang diharapkan berim-
plikasi pada peningkatan kesejahteraan masyarakat sebagai
multiplayer effeck pengelolaan kawasan konservasi.
B. Saran
1. Kawasan Gunung Tambora memiliki indeks keragaman ha-

yati yang sangat tinggi khususnya tumbuhan mulai dari tumbu-
han bawah sampai tingkatan pohon, serta merupakan habitat
berbagai jenis satwa liar dimana beberapa jenis diantaranya
merupakan jenis dilindungi karena jumlah populasinya yang
sangat terbatas di alam. Sedangkan dari potensi geologis cuk-
up bervariasi khususnya ekosistem asli yang terbentuk beru-
142
pa kaldera yang khas dengan diameter mencapai 7 km serta

peluang pengembangan objek daya tarik wisata alam yang
didukung luasan kawasan yang cukup, maka dipadang per-
lu percepatan penunjukan kawasan Gunung Tambora sebagai
Taman Nasional sehingga kawasan Gunung Tambora tersebut
dapat terkelola dengan optimal dalam rangka mencipatkan
kelestarian nilai dan keberadaan potensi sumberdaya alam
yang ada pada kawasan tersebut.
2. Dengan ditunjukkan kawasan Gunung Tambora sebagai

taman nasional diharapkan mampu berkembang sebagai ka-
wasan konservasi yang kompetitif melalui pengelolaan yang
mantap sehingga dapat dimanfaatkan untuk kepentingan
ekologi, ekonomi dan sosial budaya secara terpadu sesuai
fungsi pokoknya.
HASIL UKUR SUHU
A. Sumber Air Panas

1.1 Lokasi Pertama
Koordinat : S 08°15’09.8” E 117°59’26.1”
Elevation : 1.308 m
Tanggal Ukur : 9 September 2013
Waktu Ukur : 07.06.24
Hasil Ukur Suhu : 92°C
1.2 Lokasi Kedua

Koordinat : S 08°15’11.6” E 117°59’25.4”
Elevation : 1.310 m
B. Doro Api Toi

2.1 Lokasi Pertama
143
Koordinat : S 08°15’20.5” E 117°59’19.4”

Elevation : 1.325 m
2.2 Lokasi Kedua

Koordinat : S 08°15’21.2” E 117°59’20.1”
Elevation : 1.327 m
C. Doro Api Bou

Koordinat : S 08°15’21.4” E 117°59’26.3”
Elevation : 1.306 m
Sungai......................................
144
The first part was in Quaternary Pe-

riod about 200,000 till 100,000 years
ago as an activity producing lava flow
of the centre crater. This activity was
forming a shield volcano with height
is estimated to reach ± 1,800 m with
the volume of ± 600 km3.
The second part began 100,000 years

ago till year 1815 (Holocen), the ac-
tivity was more explosive producing
loose material alternated with lava
flowing to the southeast, south, and
southwest directions. In this phase,
the height of the volcano was becom-
ing ± 4,300 m with the volume of is
estimated to reach ± 650 km3.
Third part was on April 1815 which

was a paroxysmal eruption along with
the form of a caldera. It produced fall
material and pyroclastic flow with the
volume of ± 650 km3 covering almost
the whole volcano including three sul-
tanates (Tambora, Pekat, and Sang-
gar) located around the flank of Tam-
bora Volcano.
Bagian Keempat, merupakan bagian

yang terlihat sekarang ini, yaitu be-
rupa sebuah kaldera berdiameter
lebih kurang 7 kilometer, dengan
kedalaman mencapai 1,2 kilometer,
pada dasar kawahnya te-lah muncul
gunungapi baru yang diberi nama
Doro Afi Toi yang merupakan pusat
kegiataan Gunungapi Tambora saat
ini.
145
Penampang skematik Gunung Tambora

(Sumber : Bemmelen, 1970; dalam O. Hirokawa, 1980)
146
What is geoheritage?
Even though nature protection is primarily based on protecting
living organisms and ecosystems, the protection of geological
and geomorphological natural resources, also called non-liv-
ing nature, has a long-standing tradition and is becoming in-
creasingly interesting. The records in the rocks allow us to
take a peek back into the Earth’s past: fossil plant and animal
remains teach us of the development of the living world over
millions of years; wrinkles and rifts tell us of what happened
to the Earth’s core; minerals surprise us with their crystallisa-
tion in proper geometric forms, amazing colours and fantastic
brilliance; volcanoes continue to prove to us that the heated
Earth’s interior is powerful and fickle.
The geological foundation determines what the soil will be
like, where water will appear, how streams and rivers will
flow, where the mountains will rise up, and where caves and
pits will form. And in doing so, it affects all the life on Earth.
Through the protection of geoheritage, we are able to protect
a most representative slice of the history of our planet that is
4.5 billion years old, we can admire the forces of the past and
learn for the future.
Geodiversity is the diversity of the geological foundation,
such as rocks, minerals, fossils, relief and the processes that
created these distinctive formations over the Earth’s history.
Studying the rocks allows us to follow the development of
life on Earth, track the climatic changes, the processes that
formed the mountains, oceans and continents. Every country
has geological and geomorphological values that make up its
geoheritage.
Literature: Zwicker, G., Žeger Pleše, I., Zupan, I.(2008):
Zaštićena geobaština Republike Hrvatske, Državni zavod za
zaštitu prirode, Zagreb
The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the

world’s premier network of protected area expertise. It is ad-
147
ministered by IUCN’s Global Programme on Protected Areas

and has over 1,700 members, spanning 140 countries.
WCPA works by helping governments and others plan pro-
tected areas and integrate them into all sectors; by providing
strategic advice to policy makers; by strengthening capacity
and investment in protected areas; and by convening the di-
verse constituency of protected area stakeholders to address
challenging issues. For more than 50 years, IUCN and WCPA
havebeen at the forefront of global action on protected areas.
WCPA’s Mission
promote the establishment and effective management of a
world-wide representative network of terrestrial and marine
protected areas as an integral contribution to IUCN’s mission.
WCPA’s Objectives
• help governments and others plan protected areas and
integrate them into all sectors, through provision of strategic
advice to policy makers;
• strengthen capacity and effectiveness of protected ar-
eas managers, through provision of guidance, tools and infor-
mation and a vehicle for networking;
• increase investment in protected areas, by persuading
public and corporate donors of their value; and
• enhance WCPA’s capacity to implement its programme,
including through co-operation with IUCN members and part-
ners.
WCPA GEOHERITAGE SPECIALIST GROUP

The IUCN WCPA Geoheritage Specialist Group (GSG) facili-
tates the conservation and effective management of protected
area geoheritage and provides specialist advice on all aspects
of geodiversity in relation to protected areas and their man-
agement. These roles recognise the concept of ‘geo’ as an in-
tegral part of ‘nature’ in IUCN’s 2008 definition of a protected
area and the clear links between geodiversity and biodiversity
in theconservation of nature.
148
Various definitions of geodiversity and geoheritage have been

proposed. Put simply, geodiversity is the variety of rocks, min-
erals, fossils, landforms, sediments, water and soils, together
with the natural processes which form and alter them; geo-
heritage comprises those elements of the Earth’s geodiversity
that are considered to have significant scientific, education-
al, cultural or aesthetic value. Geoconservation is actions and
measures taken to preserve geodiversity and geoheritage for
the future.
The story of the Earth, our geoheritage, is preserved in its
geodiversity. Plate movements, volcanic activity, ice ages,
mountain building, environmental changes and the evolution
of life are all recorded in varying detail in rocks, landforms,
sediments, fossils and soils and enable us to understand the
evolution of our dynamic planet.
Geodiversity also provides the foundation for life on Earth and
the diversity of species, habitats, ecosystems and landscapes.
It is a vital link between people, nature, landscapes and cultur-
al heritage. It supports sustainable management of land and
water, climate change adaptation, historical and cultural heri-
tage, economic development and people’s health and well-be-
ing. In doing so, geodiversity underpins or delivers most of
the ecosystem services identified in the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment. It also provides substantial ‘knowledge’ benefits
(e.g. records of past climate changes and understanding of
how Earth systems operate). Without an understanding of
geodiversity, management of protected areas will not be as
effective as it should be.
Conservation of geodiversity is necessary both for its own par-
ticular geoheritage values and for its wider ecosystem values.
This requires better integration of geodiversity and geoheri-
tage into the management of protected areas.
The purpose of the Geoheritage Specialist Group is to facilitate
geoconservation and specifically to:
1) provide advice and guidance for all aspects of geodiversity
149
as it relates to the
establishment and effective management of protected areas;
2) provide specific advice on the conservation and effective
management of geoheritage in
protected areas and to prepare guidance material as appro-
priate;
3) identify significant geoheritage areas that could be formally
reserved as protected areas by
nations;
4) provide specialist geoheritage advice for the assessment of
World Heritage Site
nominations;
5) provide a mechanism for integrating geodiversity into all
relevant IUCN programmes and
activities;
6) provide, as appropriate, a professional interface for IUCN
between geodiversity and
geoheritage stakeholders such as UNESCO, the mining indus-
try and others.
Priority tasks for the Geoheritage Specialist Group are to:

1. prepare the Geoheritage Chapter for the IUCN’s Pro-
tected Area Governance and
Management e-book;
2. prepare a Best Practice Guideline for Protected Area Geodi-
versity Management;
3. prepare a Geoheritage Guidance Statement for IUCN World
Heritage Criterion (viii);
4. develop Background Geoheritage Guidance Material for Pro-
tected Areas;
5. address issues and initiatives identified by Resolution-5.-048
(adopted at the 5th WCC
2012): Valuing and Conserving Geoheritage Within the IUCN
Programme 2013-2016.
150
GEOHERITAGE OF INDONESIA
Yunus Kusumahbrata
INTRODUCTION
Situated within the triple junction of mega-plates where com-

plex geological processes are actively taken place, Indonesia
possesses numerous outstanding geological heritage or geo-
heritage resources (Bambang Dwiyanto 2006). Unfortunately,
until recently, there were no serious efforts in conserving these
geoheritage resources hence many Indonesian geoheritage
sites are now facing danger from unsustainable resource utili-
zation and other anthropogenic activities (Sukhyar Kartakusu-
mah 1990). At present, nature heritage conservation in Indo-
nesia is focused more on protection of flora and fauna or living
heritage, whereas the non-living geodiversity or geoheritage
such as rocks, minerals, fossils, soils, geological structures,
and landscapes are not recognized. The general perception is
that all geological features are highly resistant and thus are
not requiring any protection. In reality, however, many valu-
able geoheritage resources are as sensitive to disturbance as
that of bioheritage (Ibrahim Komoo 2003). Any destruction to
geoheritage resources like particular types of fossils or rocks/
minerals can be considered as a permanent loss because it is
impossible to be reproduced during one’s lifespan.
Geological features of high heritage value are well distributed
across the nation (Figure 1). For the obvious reason men-
tioned earlier the most important and highly significant geo-
heritage resources of Indonesia are active volcanoes as well as
their landscape remains. For centuries, active volcanoes have
continuously drawn researchers of various backgrounds and
151
general observers to Indonesia. Other geoheritage features

include karst landscapes, fossils, geohazards and mining sites
as well as the sites of ancient subduction complex. This chap-
ter will highlight some of Indonesian geoheritage resources,
grouped and described on the basis of the main island where
they were located.
Toba Lake, North Sumatera Province
Toba Lake (Figure 3) or Danau Toba is the most popular tour-

ist destination in Sumatera with Parapat as its centre of tour-
ism development. Located in North Sumatera Province, this
biggest lake in Southeast Asia covers an area of approximately
1146 square kilometres, with depth of more than 450 metres.
Toba Lake occupies the caldera remnant of an immense vol-
cano which exploded about 100,000 years ago in what was
probably the most powerful eruption yet known in human his-
tory (Yunus Kusumahbrata 1998).
The eruption of the Toba Volcano is categorized by volcanolo-
gists under the mega-colossal category and possibly the larg-
est explosive volcanic eruption to have occurred within the
last twenty-five million years. The 100 - 300 metres thick de-
posits of pyroclastic material spread over 30,000 square ki-
lometres and known as Toba tuff, is evidence of the massive
eruption of the ancient Toba super volcano. This eruption re-
sulted in the largest ever volume of volcanically erupted frag-
mental material, estimated at around 2800 cubic kilometres
(670 cubic miles), compared to a mere 100 cubic kilometres
spewn by the famous Tambora 1815 eruption. Because of the
huge withdrawal of material from beneath the volcano, the
cone collapsed downwards and the world’s biggest caldera
was formed. Soon after, a huge caldera lake was formed. But
70,000 years later most of the lake was disturbed by another
smaller eruption forming the Samosir Island and other geolog-
ical landscape on the eastern shore of the lake.
152
Krakatao Volcano, Sunda Straits
Indonesia contains over 130 active volcanoes, more than any

other country on earth. Most of them are concentrated along
the axis of the Indonesian island arc system, which is formed
by the northeastward subduction of the Indo-Australian ocean-
ic plate beneath the thick and rigid Eurasian continental plate.
Located in the middle of Sunda Straits, the Krakatau com-
plex (Figure 6) consists of four small volcanic islands, Rakata,
Panjang, Sertung and Anak Krakatau, respectively. Although
relatively small, Mount Anak Krakatau is considered to be the
most active volcano to threaten the populated shoreline along
both sides of the Sunda Strait (Suharto et al. 2000, Yunus Ku-
sumahbrata et al. 2006).
1893 Krakatao Eruption Event (Sukhyar Kartakusumah 1990).
Before the famous eruption of 1893, the ancient Krakatau vol-
cano consisted of three active craters known as Rakata, Danan
and Perboewatan. From May 20, 1883, Krakatau generated
series of mild detonations from Perboewatan. By mid-June the
summit crater of Perboewatan had been largely destroyed and
the centre of eruption widened to include several new vents
near Danan. By mid-July, banks of pumice were found floating
across the Sunda Straits. The climax came suddenly on August
26, 1883 at 12:53 pm, when Krakatau delivered the opening
salvo of a catastrophic eruption that last throughout the eve-
ning of August 27. The initial blast generated an ear-shatter-
ing fusillade accompanied by black churning cloud of volcanic
debris that rose quickly to 25 kilometres above the island.
Over the next several hours, the cloud widened dramatically to
the northeast, rising to a height of at least 36 kilometres. This
frightening display of volcanic power culminated in a series of
at least four stupendous eruptions that began at 5:30 a.m.,
climaxing in a colossal blast that literally blew Krakatau apart.
153
The noise was heard over 4600 kilometres away, throughout

the Indian Ocean, from Rodriguez Island and Sri Lanka in the
west, to Australia in the east. Two-thirds of the island collapsed
beneath the sea into the underlying, partially vacated magma
chamber. About 23 square kilometres of the island, including
all of Perboewatan and Danan, subsided into a caldera about
6 kilometres across. From an original height of 450 metres ,
Danan had collapsed to a depth of 250 metres below sea level.
Tangkuban Parahu Volcano, West Java Province
Situated about 25 kilometres to the north of Bandung, the fa-

mous Mount Tangkuban Parahu (Figure 7) is an active volcano
with spectacular views of craters and many other kinds of vol-
canic phenomena including fumaroles and hot springs which
are distributed around the volcano. The shape of this volcano
as seen from the south resembles an upturned boat, hence it
was named as Tangkuban Parahu and was believed to be as-
sociated with the old folk myth of Sangkuriang. Being upset by
the trickery of Dayang Sumbi, his beloved Queen, Sangkuri-
ang angrily kicked a giant boat and this became a mountain,
Tangkuban Parahu. Scientifically, the upturned boat shape of
Tangkuban Parahu volcano was formed due to the east-west
migration of its eruption center. The lateral migration caused
the formation of an elongate, rather than a conical volcano.
Merapi Volcano, Central Java Province
Mount Merapi (Figure 11), locally called Gunung Merapi, is

one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia. This conical
shaped volcano is located several kilometres north of Yogya-
karta, forming a beautiful towering landscape (Bambang Dwi-
154
yanto 2006). Thousands of people live on the flanks of the

volcano, developing villages as high as 1700 metres above the
sea level.
Historically, Mount Merapi possesses a unique character with
its pattern of periodic eruption that caused a number of fatal-
ities. Until about 10,000 years ago, eruptions were typically
effusive and the outflowing lava emitted was basaltic. Since
then, eruptions have become more explosive, with viscous an-
desitic lavas often generating voluminous lava domes.
During periods of active eruption, ruptured domes often gen-
erated pyroclastic flows due to strong explosions. The most
notorious type of eruption is characterized by pyroclastic flows
consisting of volcanic gas and hot debris that travel at great
speed along river valleys on the flank of the volcano. These
pyroclastic flows are locally called wedhus gembel (Yunus Ku-
sumahbrata 1998).
The last (2006) Merapi eruption was characterised by the de-
struction of the
2004 lava dome and the collapse of the Geger Buaya wall,
ended with the formation of a new gigantic lava dome.
During the wet season, huge accumulations of volcanic debris
on the slope of
Merapi can turn into laharic floods that flow rapidly down-
stream, destroying bridges, rice fields and villages. On the
other hand, such laharic floods are a natural source of con-
struction materials, such as sand, gravel and rock boulders.
Mount Bromo – Tenger, East Java Province
Mount Bromo (Figure 13), situated within the Tengger Calde-

ra is one of the most popular tourist attractions in East Java
Province. It is an active volcano rising to 2,330 metres above
sea level and forms part of the Tengger Mountain Range. This
outstanding geoheritage site reveals not only a beautiful vol-
155
canic landscape but also the richness of the cultural diversity

of the people living around the mountain (Yunus Kusumahbra-
ta 1998).
Mount Batur, Bali Island
Bali Province has long been recognized as a world class tourist

destination due to its unique socio-cultural and natural her-
itages. Mount Batur, Batur caldera lake and other associat-
ed features surrounding the volcano (Figure 14) are among
prime attractions for visitors to the Bali highland area (Yunus
Kusumahbrata 1998). Mount Batur is located in the center of
two concentric calderas northwest of Mount Agung, Bali. The
southeast side of the larger (10 x 13 square kilometres) cal-
dera contains a caldera lake. A 700 metres high, active volca-
no rising above the surface of Batur Lake creates a beautiful
landscape.
Just like many other natural objects in Bali, Lake Batur has
been developed as a popular tourist destination along with
its well known Balinese cultural heritage. Historical eruptions
have been documented since 1804 and the volcano has been
active frequently since then. The eruptions are characterized
by mild to moderate explosive activity and sometimes accom-
panied by lava emission.
Mount Rinjani, Lombok Island
Mount Rinjani (Figure 15) is an active volcano on Lombok Is-

land. It rises to 3,726 metres above sea level, making it the
second highest volcano in Indonesia after Mount Semeru in
East Jawa. The volcano and spectacular Segara Anak crater
lake are protected by a National Park established since 1997
(Hanang Samodra & Yunus Kusumahbrata 1998). The 6 kilo-
156
metres by 8.5 kilometres oval-shaped caldera is partially filled

by a 230 metres deep lake known as Segara Anak and displays
many volcanic phenomena such as hot springs, fumaroles and
solfatara.
Consecutive eruptions of 1994, 1995 and 1996 have formed
a small volcanic cone called Gunung Barujari which rises to
2,300 metres above sea level at the center of the caldera.
Lava flows from these eruptions have entered the crater lake
and resulted in a distinctive landscape around the volcano. Be-
ing located close to Mataram, the capital city of Nusa Tengga-
ra Barat Province, Mount Rinjani has become a popular tourist
destination. Under the supervision of the New Zealand Gov-
ernment, the local community have established well managed
ecotourism
activities around Mount Rinjani.
Mount Tambora, Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara
Mount Tambora (Figure 16) is located on Sumbawa Island,

part of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It forms its own peninsula
on Sumbawa, known as Sanggar Peninsula. To the north and
south of the peninsula, Mount Tambora is bordered by the
Flores Sea and Saleh Bay respectively.
The 2,850 metres high Mount Tambora is an active stratovol-
cano which recorded the greatest eruptions in history. The
Tambora 1815 eruption caused climatic anomalies around the
world. The worst famine of the 19th century in the Northern
Hemisphere was said to be due to the effect of the global
spread of Tambora volcanic dust veil within the stratosphere.
This led to the ‘Year Without Summer’ in North American and
Europe and caused a global agricultural disaster.
The gigantic eruption of this super volcano in 1815 is esti-
mated to have generated four times the energy of the 1883
Mount Krakatau eruption. An estimated 100 cubic kilometres
of fragmental volcanic material was ejected forming a caldera
157
measuring 6 - 7 kilometres across and 600 - 700 metres deep.

Before the explosion, the height of ancient Mount Tambora
was estimated at 4,300 metres compared to 2,850 metres at
the present time (Hanang Samodra & Yunus Kusumahbrata
1998).
The casualities totalled at least 71,000 people, of which only
11,000 - 12,000 were directly killed by the eruption. During an
excavation in 2004, a team of archeologists discovered cultur-
al remains buried by the 1815 eruption kept intact beneath a
3 metres thick pyroclastic deposit.
Mount Kelimutu, Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara
Mount Kelimutu (Figure 17) is a volcano in central Flores Is-

land with three summit crater lakes, each with its own unique
colour of water. Water of the Tiwu Ata Mbupu or Lake of Old
People, the westernmost lakes is blue, while waters in the
other two lakes, the Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai or Lake of Young
Men and Maidens and Tiwu Ata Polo or Bewitched or Enchant-
ed Lake are typically green and red in colour, respectively. The
level of acidity in the lakes, the growth of different types of
algae and the activity of subaqueous fumaroles are probable
causes of upwelling that occurs at the two eastern lakes (Han-
ang Samodra & Yunus Kusumahbrata 1998).
In historical times, the lakes have been the sites of minor
phreatic eruptions. The summit of the compound Kelimutu
volcano is elongated in a north-northwest– south-southeast
direction. Older cones of Kelido and Kelibara are located three
and two kilometres to the north and south, respectively.
FUTURE OF GEOHERITAGE CONSERVATION
Geotourism industry has been developed steadily in Indonesia

since the late 1990s. Since then, more and more interesting
158
geological features were identified to support the growing in-

dustries. Consequently, these features were gradually being
accepted as part of geoheritage sites though there has not yet
been any systematic effort made in order to conserve them as
part of geoheritage conservation.
In the past, conservation of Indonesian geoheritage resources
was mere coincidental. Geoheritage was conserved either as
part of National Parks, World Heritage Sites or protected for
the interest of culture and tradition. It is anticipated that with
a much better understanding of the heritage value of geoher-
itage resources and higher awareness among various stake-
holders on the fragility of these resources, the need to protect
them will be realized by the government in the near future.
The conventional geoheritage concept adopted in Indonesia
has often viewed goeheritage resources as separate entities
that are only useful for the purpose of scientific research and
education. Indonesians are now gradually adopting new geo-
heritage concepts that take into consideration the value of
geoheritage features in assuring sustainability of particular
ecosystems. Hence, protecting geoheritage resources is vital
for integrated or holistic nature conservation and in long term
comprehensive land management planning in Indonesia.
REFERENCES
Bambang Dwiyanto 2006. Geowisata: Alternatif Pengemban-

gan Sumber Daya Geologi Daerah, Geowisata Untuk Kema-
nusiaan dan Pembangunan Berkelanjutan, Majalah Arena 1,
7-15.
Hanang Samodra 2002. Nilai Strategis Kawasan Kars: Penge-
lolaan dan Pemanfaatannya.
Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Geologi, Bandung, 220
pp.
Hanang Samodra & Yunus Kusumahbrata 1998. Geowisata,
159
Budaya, dan Kepurbakalaan Daerah Flores Timur, Propinsi

Nusa Tenggara Timur. Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan
Geologi, Bandung, 24 pp.
Hanang Samodra & Yunus Kusumahbrata 2000. Buku Panduan
Geowisata Taman Nasional Lorentz Barat, Kabupaten Mim-
ika, Irian Jaya. Pusat penelitian dan Pengembangan Geologi,
Bandung, 54 pp.
Ibrahim Kamoo 2003. Conservation Geology: Protecting Hid-
den Treasures of Malaysia.
ASM Inaugural Lectures 2003. Lestari UKM Publication, 51 pp.
Sahat Tobing, Syahrir Andi Mangga & Wahyu Gunawan 2000.
Buku Panduan Geowisata Daerah Kabupaten Maros, Sulawesi
Selatan. Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Geologi, Band-
ung, 20 pp.
Suharto, Yudi Firman & Dikdik Kosasih 2000. Buku Panduan
Geowisata Kabupaten Pandeglang, Jawa Barat. Pusat Peneli-
tian dan Pengembangan Geologi, Bandung, 18 pp.
Sukhyar Kartakusumah 1990. Eruption History of Mount
Krakatau. Direktorat Vulkanologi,
42 pp.
Yunus Kusumahbrata 1998. Potensi Pengembangan Geowisa-
ta Indonesia, Proceeding Workshop Geowisata II. Pusat Pene-
litian dan Pengembangan Geologi, Bandung, 112 pp.
Yunus Kusumahbrata 2003. Model Pengembangan Ecotourism
Jawa Barat, Dinas
Pariwisata Provinsi Jawa Barat. LPM Universitas Padjajaran,
98 pp.
160
161
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to express their gratitude to the Government
of West Nusa Tenggara Province for the support extended in
the preparation of this book. Vote of thanks is due to the Gov-
ernment of Dompu Residence and Bima Residence for their
special efforts to initiate and realize the event of the bicenten-
nial commemoration of Tambora eruption, to which this book
is dedicated.
The appreciation goes to Head of the Geological Muse-
um who provides funds and financial support for the prepara-
tion and publication of this book particularly to duly meet the
schedule of the commemoration. Similarly to all the staffs who
made this publication possible.
To Padjadjaran University, Bandung Institute of Tech-
nology and Pasundan University where the authors attached,
vote of thanks are addressed. Finally the authors would like to
express their thanks to the contributors for the impressive and
beautiful photographs that make this book lively.
162
LIST OF FURTHER EASY READINGS

Brahmantyo, Budi, 2014, Geowisata, Bali-Nusa Tenggara,
Badan Geologi, pp 133-159
De Boer, Jelle Zeilinga, Donald Theodore Sanders, 2002,
Volcanoes in Human History, Princeton University
Press, pp. 136-156
d’ Arcy Wood, Gillen, 2014, Tambora, The Eruption that
Changes the World, Princeton University Press, 293
p.
De Jong Boers, Bernice & Helius Sjamsuddin, 2012, Letusan
Tambora 1815, Penerbit Ombak, Yogyakarta, 118 p
Kartadinata, M. N., A. R. Mulyana, E. Kriswati, N. Haerani,
2008, Geological Map of Tambora Volcano,
Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, 1:100,000, Center
for Volcanology and Geologic Hazard Mitigation
Klingaman, William K. and Nicholas P. Klingaman, The Year
without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano that
Darkenend the World and Changed History, St.
Martin Griffin Edition, New York, 338 p.
Kusumadinata, K, 1979, Data Dasar Gunungapi Indonesia,
Direktorat Vulkanologi, pp. 439-448
Rachmat, Heryadi, 2011, Geowisata Nusa Tenggara Barat,
Ikatan Ahli Geologi Indonesia, Publikasi Khusus No.
03, Oktober 2011, pp 69-103
------------------, 2013, West Nusa Tenggara Geotourism,
Geology Museum, Geological Agency, pp 55-109
Sutawijaya, Igan S, 2014, Letusan Tambora 1815 yang
Mematikan, Geomagz, Vol. 4 No. 3, September
2014, pp 84-91
Van Padang, M. Neumann, Catalogue of the Active Volcanoes
of the World Including Solfatara Fields, Part I
Indonesia, International Volcanologic Association,
Napoli, Italy pp. 165-167
163
ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Adjat Sudradjat was born in Tasikmala-
ya, Indonesia on April 14, 1942. He was
graduated from Bandung Institute of
Technology, the oldest technical universi-
ty in Indonesia. He furthers his study in
the Netherlands. He gained his Doctor-
ate from Bandung Institute Technology.
He was Director of Volcanology and later
Director General of Geology and Miner-
al Resources for 10 years. At present he
lectured as professor in volcanology at the Geology Faculty,
Padjadjaran University.
Adjat is the author of popular books on geology and
volcanology written in English, Bahasa Indonesia and local
language Sudanese among others van Bemmelen, the story
behind his fame (Indonesia), the Development of Volcanologi-
cal Investigation in Indonesia (English), Didodoho Lahar (Sun-
danese) and Prahara Gunung Galunggung (Indonesia). For his
service to the government he was awarded The Prime Star
(Bintang Jasa Utama) and the Honorary Achievement Award
(Satya Lencana Wirakarya). From the Indonesian Geological
Association he received the Achievement Appreciation Medal
(Penghargaan Jasa Utama) for his continuing contribution to
the development of volcanological science in Indonesia. For
his inspirative novel in Sundanese language he won the Ap-
preciation of Literature from the Institute of Sundanese Lan-
guage.
Prof Dr. Ir. Adjat Sudradjat MSc. is member of various
scientific and professional associations both domestic and
overseas. He married Erna Sulianti and endowed with two
daughters, a grandson and a granddaughter.
Contact : [email protected]
164
Heryadi Rachmat was born in Ketapang,

West Kalimantan on October 28, 1953. He
was graduated from Faculty of Geology
Padjadjaran University and later extend-
ed his knowledge on management in Uni-
versity of Mataram in Lombok, West Nusa
Tenggara. He worked for the Volcanologi-
cal Survey and later moved to the Regional
Geological Agency where he finally became
head of the Agency. He was assigned as
exploration geologist at Newmont Mining Company and later
the Commission to the Company representing Local Govern-
ment of Nusa Tenggara Province. Since 2010 he has become
the researcher at the Geological Museum in Bandung.
Heryadi was an activist of various association and com-
munities, among other Association of Indonesian Geologists,
Remote Sensing Association, Association of Professional Min-
ers, Society of Economic Geology, and many others. His main
interest is on general geology, geotourism, mining and energy.
He was awarded High Appreciation from the Geological As-
sociation of Southeast Asia (2001) and the Association of In-
donesian Geologists (2004) for his continuing contribution to
the development of geo-tourism. He also received the Appre-
ciation from the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (2003). His
paper “The evolution of Satonda Volcanic Island” was selected
best paper by Association of Indonesian Geologist (2004). He
was awarded Medal of Achievement from Ministry of Mines
and Energy (2008). At the same year he was assigned the
Honorary Professional Associate of Geotourism by Association
of Indonesian Geologists (2008).
Heryadi wrote many articles and published in the Jour-
nal of the Association of Indonesian Geologists both in the
region and national, in Southeast Asia scientific journal, in the
165
publications of Geological Agency and many others. He is the

author of the book entitled Gunungapi di Nusa Tenggara Barat
(2003), Potensi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi Nusa Tenggara
Barat (2004), Geowisata Nusa Tenggara Barat (2011) and most
recently West Nusa Tenggara Geotourism (2013). Ir. Heryadi
Rachmat, M. M. got married and endowed with 3 daughters.
Contact : [email protected]
166
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168
169

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GREETINGS FROM TAMBORA

A Potpourri of The Stories

GREETINGS FROM TAMBORA

Layout and graphic art

Published by Geological Museum, Geological Agency

All rights reserved

First Published 2015

The eruption of Tambora in 1815 has drawn much atten-

memoration with a poetic wordings “Tambora Menyapa Dunia”

Bandung, April 2015

The history caesurae in Sumbawa 67

This book is humbly dedicated

Tambora as seen from the south (Photo by Wahibur Rahman)

THE ERUPTION THAT

Fig 1. Map shows the location of Tambora volcano

The deadliest eruption

Tambora Volcano is located in Sumbawa Island, east

America people called the chilling year of 1816 as the year

exceeding more than 30 meters. The molten rocks of fists size

Fig 2. Mount Tambora in Sumbawa island,

of Sumbawa Island, the number of victims exceeded 44 thou-

Prior to the eruption, Tambora scrapped the sky with

The global impacts

The ash column injected to the sky as high as 43 kilometres

Fig 4. The last Napoleonic war in Waterloo

snow. In Hungary the brown colour snow fell down. In south-

returning from his exile in Elba Island, marched to Paris with

The death toll

The ash blanket covering the whole island of Sumbawa de-

Table 1. Number of casualties related to mega-disaster of

*Compiled from various sources

In Europe the casualties were due to the diseases,

drop down. When the epidemic broke down in Europe, many

Fig 6. Mary Shelley wrote the story of Frankenstein

In the other parts of the world, the impact of Tambora

world’s heritage. At the same time John William Polidori wrote

Tambora eruption triggered the history caesurae as de-

The floor of Tambora caldera and Moti Lahalo lake

Fig 7. Caldera of Mount Tambora produced

Chronology of the eruption

were heard in Makassar (380 kilometer north east), Jakarta

heard in many places in East Java and further west in Jakarta.

Table 2. The chronology of Tambora 1815 eruption

The magnitude of the eruption

The magnitude of the eruption is measured based on the

The magnitude of the 1815 Tambora eruption was

In early 19 century, there was not much scientific description

Fig 9. Moment of paroxysmal eruption at 21-22.00 April 10 in the night

the “father of volcanology.” He was fascinated by Vesuvius vol-

daughter because of epidemic diseases. Phillips prepared the

FIg 10. Sir Thomas Raffles (http://www.janeausten.co.uk)

In the Memoir published in London in 1830, Raffles

“The first eruption were heard in this island (Sumbawa)

Perhaps the bracket added by the editor might lead to

Fig 11. Painting shows the boots with the eruption

beaches. At about 10 o’clock in the night all of the beaches

slope of the volcano. The three survivals became the source

The first manuscript described the chronology of the

The third manuscript told the story on the situation in

“A year preceding the eruption, I accompany an expedi-