Masaya erupted around 4,050 BCE with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 6, a colossal eruption that threw tens of cubic kilometres of ash and rock into the air. Eruptions of this size inject sulphur into the stratosphere and can cool the global climate for a year or more. The VEI is a logarithmic scale: each step means roughly ten times more erupted material. It took place around 4,050 BCE.
Before and after
- c. 5,001 BCECopper is smelted in the Balkans
- c. 4,750 BCEEruption of Hudson, Cerro
- c. 4,360 BCEEruption of Macauley
- c. 4,350 BCEEruption of Kikai
- c. 4,050 BCEEruption of Masaya
- from 5th millennium BCE to 1st millennium BCEAncient Egypt
- 5th millennium BCEOrigins of Jerusalem
- c. 4,000 BCEOrigins of Thinis
- from c. 4,000 BCE to 3,100 BCEUruk period
More in Earth & climate
- from about 13,000 years ago to 9,750s BCEYounger Dryas
- c. 8,400 BCEEruption of Michinmahuida
- c. 6,440 BCEEruption of Kurile Lake
- c. 6,300 BCEEruption of Aniakchak
- c. 5,900 BCEEruption of Crater Lake
- c. 5,680 BCEEruption of Crater Lake
The era
This moment belongs to the Human prehistory (300,000 years ago to 3,200 BCE), the human story before writing.