page_title: Mount Merapi
section_title: Geological history
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Merapi / History / Geological history
caption_attribution_description: Bahasa Indonesia: Repronegatif. Foto udara puncak Merapi tahun 1930 Nederlands: Repronegatief. Uitbarsting van de Merapi in 1930
context_page_description: Mount Merapi, Gunung Merapi, is an active stratovolcano located on the border between Central Java and Special Region of Yogyakarta provinces, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. It is located approximately 28 kilometres north of Yogyakarta city which has a population of 2.4 million, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano, with villages as high as 1,700 metres above sea level.
  Smoke can often be seen emerging from the mountaintop, and several eruptions have caused fatalities. Pyroclastic flow from a large explosion killed 27 people on 22 November 1994, mostly in the town of Muntilan, west of the volcano. Another large eruption occurred in 2006, shortly before the Yogyakarta earthquake. In light of the hazards that Merapi poses to populated areas, it has been designated as one of the Decade Volcanoes.
  On 20 October 2010, the Indonesian government raised the alert for Mount Merapi to its highest level and warned villagers in threatened areas to move to safer ground. People living within the range of a 20 km zone were told to evacuate.
context_section_description: Merapi is the youngest in a group of volcanoes in southern Java. It is situated at a subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian Plate is subducting under the Sunda Plate. It is one of at least 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, part of the volcano is located in the Southeastern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire–a section of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and South East Asia. Stratigraphic analysis reveals that eruptions in the Merapi area began about 400,000 years ago, and from then until about 10,000 years ago, eruptions were typically effusive, and the out flowing lava emitted was basaltic. Since then, eruptions have become more explosive, with viscous andesitic lavas often generating lava domes. Dome collapse has often generated pyroclastic flows, and larger explosions, which have resulted in eruption columns, have also generated pyroclastic flows through column collapse.
  Typically, small eruptions occur every two to three years, and larger ones every 10–15 years or so. Notable eruptions, often causing many deaths, have occurred in 1006, 1786, 1822, 1872, and 1930. Thirteen villages were destroyed in the latter one, and 1,400 people were killed by pyroclastic flows.
  The very large eruption in 1006 is claimed to have covered all of central Java with ash. The volcanic devastation is claimed to have led to the collapse of the Hindu Kingdom of Mataram; however, the  evidence from that era is insufficient for this to be substantiated.
caption: Merapi in 1930
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