The World's Largest Volcanic Caldera; The 150 Kilometer Wide Apolaki Caldera

In 2019, the world's largest caldera was discovered after being previously unknown to science. This caldera measured 150 kilometers or 93 miles wide, which is far larger than the calderas measured at supervolcanoes such as Yellowstone and Toba. It formed more than 30 million years ago off the coast of what is now the Philippines on a large plateau called the Benham Rise. It is a fascinating feature which this video will cover the origin of.

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Graphics of eruption dates are courtesy of the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institute. https://volcano.si.edu/

Thumbnail Photo Credit: NOAA & NSF, Public domain

0:00 Large Calderas
0:42 A 150 km wide caldera
1:03 Location of the Apolaki Caldera
1:30 Flood Basalts
2:24 The Caroline Hotspot
2:46 Formation of the Caldera
Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google