Toba caldera's long shadow: danger lingers for millennia after eruption

New research on Indonesia’s Toba caldera shows that after its 74,000-year‑old super-eruption, magma continued to move and trigger renewed activity for 5,000–13,000 years, even as parts of the system cooled into solid rock. By dating post-eruption lava domes with argon/zircon methods, scientists reveal a thermally uneven reservoir with a warmer core and colder shell, meaning eruptions can occur without liquid magma and long-term hazards persist long after the main eruption.