Toba: the Supervolcano

 Lake Toba is on the island of Sumatra, part of Indonesia. It is a very unusual lake: 100 km by 30 in area, with a large island in the middle, extremely deep, and with the steep slopes above containing large deposits of ash. Such a lake could not have been formed by normal geographical and geological forces, but is rather a huge hole blasted in the earth's crust. Deposits of similar volcanic ash have been found from Saudi Arabia to China, dating from about 75,000 years ago, and coinciding with massive quantities of sulphur dioxide found in ice cores in Greenland.

All of this points to an enormous volcanic explosion, with power equivalent to over 4,000 megatons, ten times the destructive power of the Tambora eruption in 1815, which resulted in a "year without a summer" and widespread famine in Europe and North America. The Toba eruption must have been by far the biggest in human history; perhaps one of the biggest ever. Perhaps 1,000 cubic kilometres of magma would have been released, in a column many miles high, with pyroclastic flows lasting two weeks or more, leaving a vast hole a kilometre deep. Any animal life within thousands of miles would have instantly choked. Enormous quantities of sulphur dioxide released into the atmosphere would have cut off the sunlight over much of the earth, leading to the death of plants and then of animals. Evidence of tiny molluscs in sea cores point to a fall in sea temperatures of 5 degrees. The eruption could thus have resulted in a thousand years of climate cooling; perhaps a mini-Ice Age. 

   The effects on the world's human population remains a matter of academic debate. At this time very few humans would have lived anywhere except in Africa and along the northern shores of the Indian Ocean. Scientists have long been aware of a genetic "bottleneck" around the time of the Toba eruption, suggesting very few people survived; but on the other hand, it has been suggested that the human population of Africa was not greatly affected by Toba. It is possible that the different so-called "races" of mankind resulted from just a few survivors remaining in small scattered communities, with consequent inbreeding. The biggest question, however, must be: could something as devastating as Toba happen again, and what would be its consequences? Is human civilisation merely something which has been able to develop in the interval between supervolcanic eruptions?   

The last man to be hanged in Shropshire: a true story

On the morning of October 8th, 1960, a horrific sight was found in a house on Westland Road, a respectable street in Shrewsbury. The owner of the house, Adeline Mary Smith, a widow aged 62, had been battered to death.

   A neighbour, George Riley, was arrested for the murder, and that evening he signed a confession at the police station. In it he stated that he had come home very drunk in the early hours of the morning and realising he had no money he decided to rob Mrs Smith. She woke, and he killed her with a blow. 

  Riley was an apprentice butcher, aged 21. He came from a respectable family, his father being a Cadet Corps instructor at Shrewsbury school; but he and his brothers had a bad reputation around the town, getting into fights and being banned from dancehalls. At his trial he attempted to withdraw the confession, but he was nonetheless convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Many local people,including the lady who first told me this story, believed George Riley was innocent. It was pointed out that, although there was a great deal of blood at the scene of the murder, none was found on Riley's person or on his clothing. Furthermore, nothing had been stolen; Mrs Smith's purse and money being found untouched in a drawer. Questions were asked in Parliament by opponents of the death penalty, but the Home Secretary, R. A. Butler, said that he was "satisfied that there was no miscarriage of justice and no need for an inquiry". But if Riley was innocent, why did he confess? Was he coerced into it by the police, who might have been prejudiced against him by his violent reputation? Or could he have been trying to shield someone; perhaps his brothers? 

  George Riley was hanged in Shrewsbury prison at 8 a.m. on February 9th 1961. There was a noisy demonstration by his supporters outside the prison. The case has remained controversial in Shropshire ever since.

   Shrewsbury prison today is a museum. The bust above the gateway is that of John Howard, the great prison reformer. The prison was built in 1793, after Howard's campaigns had made people aware of the squalid conditions and gross corruption existing in the older prisons. 

 

"They hang us now in Shrewsbury jail:

 The whistles blow forlorn,

 And trains all night groan on the rail

 To men that die at morn."

 

(A. E. Housman: "A Shropshire Lad")