Baekdu's threat and the Toba bottleneck theory

We have been watching in horror and dismay the astonishing tragedy unfolding in Japan. The footage is both terrifying and saddening yet also fascinating: Gaia's power to move is immense and human life is so fragile and vulnerable.

While the seismic activity and resulting tsunami is devastating for Japan, Korea remains unaffected. Korea is a very seismically stable peninsula with very little activity recorded. However, one great risk looms: the eruption of mount Baekdu.

Baekdu, one of the largest volcanoes on earth, is listed as one of the top 5 most destructive eruptions in modern times. In 990 AD it coated the peninsula and northern Japan with 1.2 m of ash. Read this excellent article here or another similar here.

The fact that Korean scientists are expecting activity soon- in the next few years is daunting. if a significant eruption takes place, this could be how the NorK regime finally falls: crop failure, destroyed buildings from the quake, death and disease from toxic gases. Of course South Korea would also suffer similarly, but has wealth and infrastructure to manage. North Korea could never cope.

What I also discovered in reading about destructive volcanoes is the two most recent major eruptions in the 1800s, Krakatoa and Tambora. These eruptions changed global weather patterns by cooling the planet. Major eruptions millenia ago cooled the planet for thousands of years ad most notably , lake Toba and the massive eruption around 70 000 BCE stifled life on earth to create a bottleneck of living creatures, including humans. The Toba catastrophe theory
is supported by genetic research showing that modern humans evolved from just a handful of individuals who survived that catastrophe. Fascinating stuff.

Time to leave Korea. The real threat is from the most sacred and venerated mountain in this culture.