Lake Toba

Lake Toba (also known as Danau Toba) is a 100 kilometres long, 30 kilometres wide and 505 metres deep lake, making it the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. It is located in the middle of the northern part of Sumatra.

Lake Toba came to be by a supervolcanic eruption of around 69,000 to 77,000 years ago, which is believed to be the largest explosive eruption on earth in the past 25 million years. The eruption led to a volcanic winter with a decline in temperature between 3 to 5 C and even up to 15 C in higher latitudes around the world. The total amount of erupted material was around 2,800 km3. The eruption caused South Asia to be entirely covered in a layer of ash of approximately 15 cm thick.