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Birth of Anak Krakatoa
Forty four years after the main explosion, in 1927, volcanic activity was seen in the sea covering the old caldera, between the sites of the two northernmost former volcanoes of Krakatau, where the greatest activity had occurred at the time of the cataclysm. A series of eruption 185 m below the surface of the sea resulted in the emergence of three new islands, one after the other. They were all son destroyed by surf. A fourth emerged from the sea on August 12th 1930. It remained above water, and was aptly named Anak Krakatau( child of Krakatau ). This young and active volcano has been growing around 6 feet a year and still continues doing so. It grew by the accumulation of ash, and suffered a devastating eruption in 1952, and other very destructive one in 1971. It is now 300 m high and 5 Km in diameter, and is still active spurting fire and cinder, this like moonlike landscape. It is lonely volcanic island in the middle of the sea. The northeast coast, north foreland and east foreland are now vegetated; the succession of vegetation is still at an early stage, Casuarinas equisetifolia (cemara) being the dominant tree.
Aftermath
Anak Krakatau
Verbeek, in his report on the eruption, predicted that any new activity would manifest itself in the region which had been between Perboewatan and Danan. This prediction came true on 29 December 1927, when a submarine lava dome in the area of Perboewatan showed evidence of eruptions (an earlier event in the same area had been reported in June 1927). A new island volcano rose above the waterline a few days later. The eruptions were initially of pumice and ash, and that island and the two islands that followed were quickly eroded away by the sea. Eventually a fourth island, named Anak Krakatau (meaning "child of Krakatoa" in Malay and Indonesian), broke water in August 1930 and produced lava flows more quickly than the waves could erode them
Biological research
The islands have become a major case study of island biogeography and founder populations in an ecosystem being built from the ground up in an environment virtually cleaned.
The islands had been little studied or biologically surveyed before the 1883 catastrophe—only two pre-1883 biological collections are known: one of plant specimens and the other part of a shell collection. From descriptions and drawings made by HMS Discovery, the flora appears to have been representative of a typical Javan tropical climax forest. The pre-1883 fauna is virtually unknown but was probably typical of the smaller islands in the area.
Botanical studies
From a biological perspective, the Krakatau problem[26] refers to the question of whether the islands were completely sterilized by the 1883 eruption or whether some indigenous life survived. When the first researchers reached the islands in May 1884, the only living thing they found was a spider in a crevice on the south side of Rakata. Life quickly recolonized the islands, however; Verbeek's visit in October 1884 found grass shoots already growing. The eastern side of the island has been extensively vegetated by trees and shrubs, presumably brought there as seeds washed up by ocean currents or carried in birds' droppings (or brought by natives and scientific investigators). It is, however, in a somewhat fragile position, and the vegetated area has been badly damaged by recent eruptions.
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