Portal:Mountains/Selected article/8

Mount Tambora is an active stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. Sumbawa is flanked both to the north and south by oceanic crust, and Tambora was formed by the active subduction zone beneath it. This raised Mount Tambora as high as 4,300 m (14,100 ft), making it one of the tallest peaks in the Indonesian archipelago. After a large magma chamber inside the mountain filled over the course of several decades, volcanic activity reached a historic climax before erupting in April 1815.

The 1815 eruption is rated 7 on the volcanic explosivity index, the only such eruption since the Lake Taupo eruption in about 180 AD. With an estimated ejecta volume of 160 km³ (38 cu mi), Tambora's 1815 outburst was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The explosion was heard on Sumatra island, more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi) away. Heavy volcanic ash falls were observed as far away as Borneo, Sulawesi, Java and Maluku islands. Most deaths from the eruption were from starvation and disease, as the eruptive fallout ruined agricultural productivity in the local region. The eruption killed at least 71,000 people and created global climate anomalies that included the phenomenon known as "volcanic winter": 1816 became known as the "Year Without a Summer". Agricultural crops failed and livestock died in much of the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in the worst famine of the 19th century.