Q 01/05

Krakatoa lies in a strait between which two Indonesian islands?

A) Java and Bali

B) Java and Sumatra

C) Borneo and Sulawesi

D) Bali and Lombok

Answer · why

B) Java and Sumatra

The Sunda Strait sits at a sharp bend in the Indonesian island arc, possibly over unusually weak crust.

Q 02/05

In which year did Krakatoa's catastrophic eruption take place?

A) 1902

B) 1815

C) 1912

D) 1883

Answer · why

D) 1883

The climactic explosions came on 26-27 August.

Q 03/05

What volcanic explosivity index (VEI) is assigned to the 1883 eruption?

A) 6

B) 4

C) 5

D) 3

Answer · why

A) 6

That is equivalent to about 200 megatons of TNT, four times the yield of the Tsar Bomba.

Q 04/05

The 1883 explosion was roughly how many times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb?

A) 13,000

B) 130

C) 1,300

D) 5,000

Answer · why

A) 13,000

It ejected approximately 25 cubic kilometres of rock.

Q 05/05

The explosion was heard about 4,800 km away on which Indian Ocean island near Mauritius?

A) Réunion

B) Rodrigues

C) Seychelles

D) Madagascar

Answer · why

B) Rodrigues

Listeners there took it for cannon fire from a nearby ship.