Toba catastrophe theory

Toba eruption theory
Artist's impression of the eruption from about 42 km (26 mi) above northern Sumatra
Volcano	Toba Caldera Complex
Date	c. 74,000 years BP
Location	Sumatra, Indonesia 2°41′04″N 98°52′32″E / 2.6845°N 98.8756°E / 2.6845; 98.8756
VEI	8
Impact	Impact disputed
Deaths	(Potentially) almost all of humanity, leaving around 3,000–10,000 humans left on the planet
Lake Toba is the resulting crater lake

The Toba eruption (sometimes called the Toba supereruption or the Youngest Toba eruption) was a supervolcano eruption that occurred about 74,000 years ago during the Late Pleistocene^[1] at the site of present-day Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of the largest known explosive eruptions in the Earth's history. The Toba catastrophe theory is that this event caused a severe global volcanic winter of six to ten years and contributed to a 1,000-year-long cooling episode, resulting in a genetic bottleneck in humans.^[2][3] However, some physical evidence disputes the association with the millennium-long cold event and genetic bottleneck, and some consider the theory disproven.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}