Re: News from the Island of Kalu

On Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:26:06 -0400, Eldin Raigmore
><eldin_raigmore@...> wrote:
[snip]
>*Here* in OurTimeLine 70,000 to 75,000 years ago a RealLive "SuperVolcano"
>erupted -- or maybe that should be, "a volcano 'supererupted'" -- under
>Lake Toba on Sumatra in Indonesia. (? do I have that right?  Maybe
>it's "Tosa").  (That was about 71,500 BCE or about 72,000 BCE).
>
>(Or maybe it didn't).
>
>It spread a cloud of sulphuric acid that reduced the amount of sunlight
>reaching the Earth's surface for 50 years
(or maybe just 7 years),

>and triggered a "mini-Ice Age"
>that lasted 1000 years.
(or at least cooled the Earth 3 to 9 degrees Celsius for some centuries.)

>(Or maybe it didn't).
>
>It reduced the Earth's human population by 40%, or to about 10,000
>individuals.  (Or didn't). (This event is one of those called "a population
>bottleneck", but ordinarily a "population bottleneck" refers to a die-off
>of 50% or more of the population.  Perhaps I have that percentage wrong?)
Some say it reduced the human population from over 100,000 to less than
2,000.  That would be at least a 98% reduction -- definitely a "population
bottleneck".

>
>Was the recent event in Kalu similar?
>
>-----
>eldin