Nova

Mystery Of The Megavolcano

Season 33, Episode 12 of 19

A remote lake in Southeast Asia conceals evidence of Earth's greatest volcanic cataclysm of the last 100,000 years. Miles beneath its placid surface lies a magma chamber that exploded so violently during the Ice Age that gases and ash may have encircled the globe and blotted out the sun for years on end. The Toba eruption may have helped kick the climate into an unprecedented freeze and perhaps even pushed ancestral human populations to the brink of extinction. In a classic science detective story, NOVA pieces together the clues about this great catastrophe and probes questions raised about human evolution and Earth's fragile ecosystems.

Previously Aired

Day
Time
Channel
5/25/2010
8 p.m.
5/26/2010
1 a.m.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona