Super-volcanism and other geophysical processes of catastrophic import

Abstract

Volcanic super-eruptions are caldera-forming events that are several orders of magnitude larger than typical historic eruptions and are associated with severe climate and environmental impacts. In particular, the Toba super-eruption that occurred approximately 74,000 years ago is thought to have had a significant impact on the global climate and may have led to a bottleneck in human evolution. The estimated frequency of super-eruptions suggests that they pose a greater long-term threat to civilization than other catastrophic events like asteroid impacts. Consequently, efforts to predict and mitigate their potential effects should be seriously considered. – AI-generated abstract.