WHAT WAS THE TOBA CATASTROPHE?
The Toba super-eruption was the biggest volcanic blast on Earth within the past 2.5 million years.
It blew its top on what is now the Indonesian island of Sumatra around 74,000 years ago.
The volcano fired out some 720 cubic miles (3,000 cubic km) of rock and ash which spread across the globe.
Some scientists believe the eruption blotted out the sky, bringing with it a volcanic winter that lasted a decade.
The event was so massive all that is left of the mountain is the enormous Lake Toba (pictured), which stretches 62 miles (100 kilometres) long, 19 miles (30 km) wide, and up to 1,657 feet (505 metres) deep
An eruption a hundred times smaller than Mount Toba - that of Mount Tambora, also in Indonesia, in 1815 - is thought to have brought a year without summer in 1816.
Toba's eruption devastated life on Earth because its thick cloud of ash blocked out the sun, killing off much of the planet's plantlife.
The event was so massive all that is left of the mountain is the enormous Lake Toba, which stretches 62 miles (100 kilometres) long, 19 miles (30 km) wide, and up to 1,657 feet (505 metres) deep.
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