Mount Sunda was an ancient

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

that once stood in Priangan highlands in today's

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

province, Java island,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The Sunda volcano existed during the Pleistocene age before a violent Plinian eruption caused its

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

to collapse. The volcano formed the northern ridge of the Bandung Basin. The ancient volcano is the predecessor of today's Tangkuban Perahu, Burangrang, and Bukit Tunggul volcanoes. The Sunda volcano was a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

and is estimated to have reached up to 3,000–4,000 metres (9,850–13,100 ft) above sea level during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

age. During this age, it was one of the highest volcanoes in

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Eruptions

Two large-scale eruptions took place; the first formed the northern ridge of the Bandung basin, and the other (est. 55,000 Before the Present) blocked the Citarum River, turning the basin into a lake known as the " Great Prehistoric Lake of Bandung".

Naming

The mountain's name comes from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

"Chuda" which means white, referring to the mountain's top which was covered in

glaciers A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

in the past. The nomads of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

from the island of

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

can see the mountain clearly from their location. Out of curiosity, they visited the mountain. There, they spread cultures and languages. They refer to the local people as Chuda people. The word Chuda turns into Sunda from local pronunciation. The word Chunda/Sunda can also refer to the light skin of the

Sundanese people The Sundanese (; ) are an Austronesian people, Austronesian ethnic group native to Java in Indonesia, primarily West Java. They number approximately 42 million and form Ethnic groups in Indonesia, Indonesia's second most populous ethnic group. T ...

which lives in the region.

References

Subduction volcanoes Calderas of Indonesia Sunda Sunda {{WJava-geo-stub

Eruptions

Naming

See also

References