Lake Toba

Toba is the largest freshwater lake in Indonesia

 

Lake Toba in Indonesian called Danau Toba is a lake and supervolcano. The lake is 100 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, and 505 metres, 1,666 ft at its deepest point. Located in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra with a surface elevation of about 900 metres, 2,953 ft, the lake stretches from 2.88°N 98.52°E to 2.35°N 99.1°E. It is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world.

Lake Toba is the site of a supervolcanic eruption that occurred 69,000 to 77,000 years ago, a massive, climate-changing event. The eruption is believed to have had a VEI intensity of 8. It is believed to be the largest explosive eruption anywhere on Earth in the last 25 million years. 

 

According to the Toba catastrophe theory to which some anthropologists and archeologists subscribe, it had global consequences, killing most humans then alive and creating a population bottleneck in Central Eastern Africa and India that affected the genetic inheritance of all humans today.

This theory however, has been largely debated as there is no evidence for any other animal decline or extinction, even in environmentally sensitive species. However, it has been accepted that the eruption of Toba led to a volcanic winter with a worldwide decline in temperatures between 3 to 5 °C, 5 to 9 °F, and up to 15 °C, 27.0 °F in higher latitudes.

The Toba caldera complex in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia consists of four overlapping volcanic craters that adjoin the Sumatran "volcanic front". The youngest and fourth caldera is the world's largest Quaternary caldera,100 km, 62 mi by 30 km 19 mi and intersects the three older calderas.
 

An estimate of 2,800 km3, 670 cu mi of dense-rock equivalent pyroclastic material, known the Youngest Toba tuff, was blasted from the youngest caldera during one of the largest single explosive volcanic eruptions in geologic history. Following the "Youngest Toba tuff eruption", a typical resurgent dome formed within the new caldera, joining two half-domes separated by a longitudinal graben.

There are at least four cones, four stratovolcanoes and three craters visible in the lake. The Tandukbenua cone on the NW edge of the caldera is relatively lacking in vegetation, suggesting a young age of only several hundred years. Also, the Pusubukit volcano on the south edge of the caldera is solfatarically active.

Bali Island Indonesia

Bali is the beautiful island in Indonesia

Bali which is referred also as The Island of Gods, The Paradise Island, or The Island of A Thousand Temples, is located between Java and Lombok. The larger Java is located to the west while Lombok is situated to the east of Bali. Geographically, Bali is the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Administratively, Bali is one of the 33 provinces of Indonesia with Denpasar at the southern part of the island as its capital.

Bali is home for small Hindu community. In 2010, 92.29% of the total population of 3.891,000 adheres to Balinese Hindu. The rest of the number adheres to Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. Bali is famous as the largest tourist destination in Indonesia and also well known all over the world. The popular image of the island is that it is rich with sophisticated arts like traditional and modern sculpture, leather, painting, dance, music, and metalworking.

The first inhabitants of Bali are Austronesian peoples who came in 2000 BC. They came from Taiwan through the South China Sea. Thus these peoples are closer to the peoples of the Philippines, Oceania and Indonesian Archipelago in terms of linguistic and culture. The historical artifacts dated from this time are stone tools found not too far from Cekik village at the western part of the island. There are nine Hindu sects in the ancient Bali with each has its own personal Godhead, namely Ganapatya, Resi, Brahma, Sora, Waisnawa, Siwa Sidharta, Bodha, Bhairawa and Pasupata.

Various inscriptions show that the name Bali Dwipa or Bali Island had appeared since the first ages of the first millennium. One of the inscriptions that mentioned the island is the Blanjong pillar which was created by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914. The inscription in the pillar mentioned the island as Walidwipa. Subak, the complex irrigation system for which Bali is well known, was developed during this time. 

Some of the cultural and religious traditions that can be seen until today have their roots from this period too although much older Indian influence is believed to had been present since 1 AD. In 1343, the big Hindu Majapahit Empire from East Java founded a colony in here. Bali became the final destination for the exodus of artists, priests, musicians and priests when the empire eventually declined in the 15th century.