Setiap orang bisa ikut menentukan pilihan tujuh keajaiban alam dunia ini melalui situs www.new7wonders.com dengan mengirim dukungan dalam situs itu. Dukungan ditunggu hingga 31 Desember 2008 untuk masuk dalam nominasi 21 keajaiban alam dunia. ”Dukungan ini memicu kita untuk melakukan penyelamatan Danau Toba,” tutur Edward.
Dalam situs www.new7wonders.com terlihat Danau Toba berada di urutan ke-31 dari 77 nomine tujuh keajaiban alam dunia, sedangkan Taman Nasional Komodo berada di urutan ke-28 dan Pulau Vulkanik Krakatau di urutan ke-34. Urutan itu melorot dari sebelumnya, yakni 26 untuk Danau Toba, 24 untuk Taman Nasional Komodo, dan 29 untuk Pulau Vulkanik Krakatau. Danau Toba merupakan danau vulkanik, yaitu danau yang muncul karena letusan gunung berapi. Berdasarkan dugaan geologis, Gunung Toba pernah meletus sekitar 75.000 tahun yang lalu. Kini dampak letusan itu masih dikaji oleh para peneliti di berbagai negara. (WSI)
New7Wonders of Nature Nominees: Indonesia
Mount Bromo
Mount Bromo (2,392m) is an active volcano in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park of East Java, Indonesia. Bromo is not the highest mountain in Java - that honor goes to nearby Mount Semeru at 3,676m - but it is probably the most famous one. Bromo is in fact only one of many peaks inside the massive Tengger Caldera, but it's easily recognized as the entire top has been blown off and the crater inside constantly belches white sulphurous smoke. The inside of the caldera, aptly dubbed the Laut Pasir (Sea of Sand) is coated with fine volcanic sand and the overall effect is unsettlingly unearthly, especially when compared to the lush green valleys all around the caldera.
Krakatau, Volcanic Islands
Nestled between the large Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra is the Krakatau Volcano National Park. In the fourth century, a single marine volcano stood at this site, but in 416 A.D., the caldera of the volcano collapsed. The remnants formed a new caldera, or volcanic feature formed by the collapse of land following an eruption, around 7 km in diameter, with the peak’s remnants becoming the three islands of Verlaten, Lang and Krakatau. This volcano remnant was not dormant, however, and in August 1883, the volcano on Krakatau erupted with such violence that the sound was heard as far away as Madagscar and Alice Springs, Australia, thousands of km away. It was one of the largest terrestrial explosions in recorded history. The eruption also caused a tsunami 40 m high. Since 1927, continued eruptions and outflow material has formed a fourth island in the park, Anak Krakatau, or “Child of Krakatau.”
Komodo National Park
Indonesia’s Komodo National Park includes the three larger islands Komodo, Rinca and Padar, as well as numerous smaller ones, for a total area of 1,817 square kilometers (603 square kilometers of it land). The national park was founded in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon. Later, it was also dedicated to protecting other species, including marine animals. The islands of the national park are of volcanic origin.
Lake Sentani
An irregularly shaped body with approximate maximum dimensions of 28 km (E-W) by 19 km (N-S) and a surface area of 10,400 ha, Lake Sentani is by far the largest of the Irian Jaya lakes. It is fed by a catchment area of about 600 km2 and has one outlet only, via the Jafuri and Tami rivers to the Pacific Ocean near the Papua New Guinea border. Lake Sentani, near Jayapura at the NE extremity of Irian Jaya, lies at an elevation of 73 m in a fault-controlled depression mainly in Mesozoic mafic and ultramafic rocks of the Cyclops Ophiolite Belt. It is bounded by the Cyclops Mountains block to the north and the lower-standing terrain of the New Guinea fold thrust belt to the south.
Lake Toba
INDONESIA
Lake Toba is the largest volcanic lake in the world. At 100 km long and 30 km wide, measuring 505 m at its deepest point, it is situated in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Surrounded by tall mountains, it cradles the large island of Samosir in its middle.
