Sunda Arc

Sunda Arc

The Sunda Arc is a volcanic arc that has produced the islands of Sumatra and Java and the Sunda Strait and the Lesser Sunda Islands. A chain of volcanoes forms the topographic spine of these islands. The arc marks an active convergent boundary between the East Eurasian plates that underlie Indonesia, especially the Sunda Plate and the Burma Plate, with the India and Australian Plates that form the seabed of the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. The Sunda Arc is a classic example of a volcanic island arc, in which all the elements of such geodynamic features can be identified.

The India and Australian Plates are subducting beneath the Sunda and Burma plates along the Sunda Arc. The tectonic deformation along this subduction zone in the Java Trench (Sunda Trench) caused the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake of December 26, 2004.

The Sunda Arc is home to some of the world's most dangerous and explosive volcanoes. The eruption of Tambora on Sumbawa Island, in 1815, is thought to be the most massive in recorded history. Also this subduction zone has created arguably the world's largest active volcano Lake Toba which produced the largest volcanic eruption in human history erupting just over 2,800 km³ of magma. The loudest noise in recorded history, that of Krakatau's blast, took place in 1883, and was heard 3,000 miles away. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed by these eruptions and by episodes of activity at other volcanoes, including Papandayan, Galunggung, and Kelut.

Further reading

* Newcomb KR & McCann WR. (1987). "Seismic history and seismotectonics of the Sunda Arc". Journal of Geophysical Research; 92:421–439.

ee also

*Alpide belt


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