Indonesia is dominated by Volcanoes. Being part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia reisdes on the edge of two tectonic plates. In fact there are some 150 Volcanoes throughout Indonesia and its many islands, with 127 of these currently active.
When travelling to Indonesia there was no way of stopping me visiting some of these mammoth ruptures on our planets surface. Though truth be told, I wasn’t in anyway keen to be donning a heat proof scientific suit and peering into hot magma.
Instead I travelled to Mount Batur on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Mount Batur lies in centre of two concentric calederas. Its last eruption of merit was 1968 but as can be seen in the below photograph, its still scared and covered with basaltic ash from the lava flow some 44 years ago.
These mammoth openings in Earth’s surface are treated as religious icons by the mostly Hindu residents of the island of Bali. In every house in Bali resides a family’s temple which is built in the corner of the house that is closest the Mount Agung, the most religious natural feature in Bali.
Whilst I was circumnavigating Mount Batur I was constantly being passed by overloaded trucks carrying basaltic ash which is used as the core ingredient in cement for nearly all construction in Bali. Its part of their houses, their buildings and so many of their structures.
The rich soil in used for farming and the lake in the caldera at the base of Mount Batur is where much of the fresh water fish cultivation occurs.
To say these these amazing natural structures have had an impact on the populace of Bali would be an understatement. These are an integral historical part of their culture, their infrastructure and their everyday life.
