It's hard to imagine what happened here almost 13,000 years ago. In the gently rolling landscape, the roof of a volcanic hearth that had formed underground suddenly bursts open. A huge explosion shakes the surrounding area, caused by the underground contact of hot gases and groundwater. Huge quantities of ash and pumice are ejected from the volcano.
After just a few days, the vent is so large that a gigantic column of ash 30 kilometers high develops. The wind transports the volcanic particles over 1,000 kilometers to the northeast as far as southern Sweden. In the south, the dusty precipitation reaches as far as northern Italy. The surrounding area sinks under a 50-metre-thick blanket of rock, pyroclastic flows roar through the neighboring valleys, which fill up with the volcanic rock masses. The spectacle lasts around two weeks, leaving behind the two by three kilometer wide cauldron on the edge of which we stand today.
Rainfall washes the fine-grained particles from the slopes, which combine to form an impermeable layer of mud at the bottom of the basin. Lake Laach is formed. The deepest point, at 51 meters, is located directly above the vent.
