In a volcanic eruption, lava, volcanic bombs, ash, and various gases are expelled from a volcanic vent and fissure. While many eruptions only pose dangers to the immediately surrounding area, Earth's largest eruptions can have a major regional or even global impact, with some affecting the climate and contributing to mass extinctions. Volcanic eruptions can generally be characterized as either explosive eruptions, sudden ejections of rock and ash, or effusive eruptions, relatively gentle outpourings of lava. A separate list is given below for each type.

There have likely been many such eruptions during Earth's history beyond those shown in these lists. However, erosion and plate tectonics have taken their toll, and many eruptions have not left enough evidence for geologists to establish their size. Even for the eruptions listed here, estimates of the volume erupted can be subject to considerable uncertainty.

Explosive eruptions

In explosive eruptions, the eruption of magma is driven by the rapid release of pressure, often involving the explosion of gas previously dissolved within the material. The most famous and destructive historical eruptions are mainly of this type. An eruptive phase can consist of a single eruption, or a sequence of several eruptions spread over several days, weeks or months. Explosive eruptions usually involve thick, highly viscous, silicic or felsic magma, high in volatiles like water vapor and carbon dioxide. Pyroclastic materials are the primary product, typically in the form of tuff. Eruptions the size of that at Lake Toba 74,000 years ago, at least , or the Yellowstone eruption 640,000 years ago, around , occur worldwide every 50,000 to 100,000 years.Certain felsic provinces, such as the Chon Aike province in Argentina and the Whitsunday igneous province of Australia, are not included in this list because they are composed of many separate eruptions that have not been distinguished.

Volcano—eruption(Data in this table are from Ward (2009) unless noted otherwise) Supplementary Table I: Supplementary Table II: Age (millions of years)Dates are an average of the range of dates of volcanics.LocationVolume (km3)These volumes are estimated total volumes of tephra ejected. If the available sources only report a dense rock equivalent volume, the number is italicized but not converted into a tephra volume.Notes Lake Toba Caldera—Youngest Toba Tuff Sunda Arc, Indonesia Largest-known eruption on earth in at least the last million years with most estimates placing it at 2,800 km3, possibly responsible for a population bottleneck of the human species (see Toba catastrophe theory) Flat Landing Brook Eruption Flat Landing Brook Formation One of the largest and oldest supereruptions. Existence as a single eruption is controversial. Possibly a multiple 2,000+ km3 event under a million years. Sam Ignimbrite and Green Tuff Yemen Volume includes 5,550 km3 of distal tuffs. This estimate is uncertain to a factor of 2 or 3. Wah Wah Springs Tuff Indian Peak-Caliente Caldera Complex The largest of the Indian Peak-Caliente Caldera Complex, and includes flows over 4,000 metres thick at the most. La Garita Caldera—Fish Canyon Tuff San Juan volcanic field, Colorado 5,000 Part of at least 20 large caldera-forming eruptions in the San Juan volcanic field and surrounding area that formed around 26 to 35 Ma. Lund Tuff29.2 Indian Peak-Caliente Caldera Complex 4,400 Formed the White Rock Caldera, one of the largest eruptions of the Mid-Tertiary Ignimbrite flareup Jabal Kura'a Ignimbrite Yemen Volume estimate is uncertain to a factor of 2 or 3. Windows Butte tuff William's Ridge, central Nevada 3,500 Part of the Mid-Tertiary ignimbrite flare-up Oxaya ignimbrites Chile 3,000 Really a regional correlation of many ignimbrites originally thought to be distinct Gakkel Ridge CalderaGakkel Ridge3,000It is the only known supervolcano located directly on the mid-ocean ridge. Grey's Landing Supereruption Located in southern Idaho>2,800One of 2 previously unknown Yellowstone hotspot Supereruptions; Largest Yellowstone eruption. Pacana Caldera—Atana ignimbrite Chile >3,500 Forms a resurgent caldera. Mangakino Caldera—Kidnappers ignimbrite Taupō Volcanic Zone, New Zealand 2,760 Iftar Alkalb—Tephra 4 W Afro-Arabian 2,700 Yellowstone Caldera—Huckleberry Ridge Tuff Yellowstone hotspot One of the largest Yellowstone eruptions on record Nohi Rhyolite—Gero Ash-Flow Sheet Honshu, Japan 2,200 Nohi Rhyolite total volume over 7,000 km3 in 70 to 72 Ma, Gero Ash-Flow Sheet being the largest Whakamaru Taupō Volcanic Zone, New Zealand 2,000 Largest in the Southern Hemisphere in the Late Quaternary Kilgore tuff Near Kilgore, Idaho 1,800 Last of the eruptions from the Heise volcanic field McMullen Supereruption Located in southern Idaho>1,700One of 2 previously unknown Yellowstone hotspot eruptions. Sana'a Ignimbrite—Tephra 2W63 Afro-Arabian 1,600 Deicke and Millbrig England, exposed in Northern Europe and Eastern US 1,509Also the site of eruptions. One of the oldest large eruptions preserved Blacktail tuff Blacktail, Idaho 1,500 First of several eruptions from the Heise volcanic field Mangakino Caldera—Rocky Hill Taupō Volcanic Zone, New Zealand 1,495 Aso Caldera Kyushu, Japan 930–1,860 Aso-4 ignimbrite Emory Caldera—Kneeling Nun tuff Mogollon-Datil volcanic field 1,310 Omine-Odai Caldera—Murou pyroclastic flow Honshū, Japan 1,260 A part of the large eruptions that occurred in southwest Japan to 13 to 15 Ma. Timber Mountain tuff Southwestern Nevada 1,200 Also includes a 900 cubic km tuff as a second member in the tuff Paintbrush tuff (Tonopah Spring Member) Southwestern Nevada 1,200 Related to a 1,000 km3 tuff (Tiva Canyon Member) as another member in the Paintbrush tuff Bachelor—Carpenter Ridge tuff San Juan volcanic field 1,200 Part of at least 20 large caldera-forming eruptions in the San Juan volcanic field and surrounding area that formed around 26 to 35 Ma Bursum—Apache Springs Tuff Mogollon-Datil volcanic field 1,200 Related to a 1050 cubic km tuff, the Bloodgood Canyon tuff Taupō Volcano—Oruanui eruption Taupō Volcanic Zone, New Zealand 1,170 Most recent VEI 8 eruption Mangakino Caldera—Ongatiti–Mangatewaiiti Taupō Volcanic Zone, New Zealand 1,150 Huaylillas Ignimbrite Bolivia 1,100 Predates half of the uplift of the central Andes Bursum—Bloodgood Canyon Tuff Mogollon-Datil volcanic field 1,050 Related to a 1200 cubic km tuff, the Apache Springs tuff Okueyama Caldera Kyushu, Japan 1,030 A part of the large eruptions that occurred in southwest Japan to 13 to 15 Ma Yellowstone Caldera—Lava Creek Tuff Yellowstone hotspot 1,000 Last large eruption in the Yellowstone National Park area estimated energy yield 875,000 megatons of TNT Awasa Caldera Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia 1,000 Cerro Galán Catamarca Province, Argentina 1,000 Elliptical caldera is ~35 km wide Paintbrush tuff (Tiva Canyon Member) Southwestern Nevada 1,000 Related to a 1200 cubic km tuff (Topopah Spring Member) as another member in the Paintbrush tuff San Juan—Sapinero Mesa Tuff San Juan volcanic field 1,000 Part of at least 20 large caldera-forming eruptions in the San Juan volcanic field and surrounding area that formed around 26 to 35 Ma Uncompahgre—Dillon & Sapinero Mesa Tuffs San Juan volcanic field 1,000 Part of at least 20 large caldera-forming eruptions in the San Juan volcanic field and surrounding area that formed around 26 to 35 Ma Platoro—Chiquito Peak tuff San Juan volcanic field 1,000 Part of at least 20 large caldera-forming eruptions in the San Juan volcanic field and surrounding area that formed around 26 to 35 Ma Mount Princeton—Wall Mountain tuff Thirtynine Mile volcanic area, Colorado 1,000 Helped cause the exceptional preservation at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument Aira Caldera Kyushu, Japan 940–1,040 Osumi pumice fall deposit, Ito ignimbrite, and Aira-Tanzawa ash fall deposit

Effusive eruptions

Effusive eruptions involve a relatively gentle, steady outpouring of lava rather than large explosions. They can continue for years or decades, producing extensive fluid mafic lava flows. For example, Kīlauea on Hawaii continuously erupted from 1983 to 2018, producing of lava covering more than . Despite their ostensibly benign appearance, effusive eruptions can be as dangerous as explosive ones: one of the largest effusive eruptions in history occurred in Iceland during the 1783–1784 eruption of Laki, which produced about of lava and killed one fifth of Iceland's population. The ensuing disruptions to the climate may also have killed millions elsewhere. Still larger were the Icelandic eruptions of Katla (the Eldgjá eruption) circa 934, with of erupted lava, and the Þjórsárhraun eruption of Bárðarbunga circa 6700 BCE, with lava erupted, the latter being the largest effusive eruption in the last 10,000 years. The lava fields of these eruptions measure 565 km2 (Laki), 700 km2 (Eldgjá) and 950 km2 (Þjórsárhraun).

EruptionAge (Millions of years)LocationVolume(km3)NotesRefs Mahabaleshwar–Rajahmundry Traps (Upper) Deccan Traps, India 9,300 Wapshilla Ridge flows Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 5,000–10,000 Member comprises 8–10 flows with a total volume of ~50,000 km3 McCoy Canyon flow Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 4,300 Umtanum flows Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 2,750 Two flows with a total volume of 5,500 km3 Sand Hollow flow Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 2,660 Pruitt Draw flow Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 2,350 Museum flow Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 2,350 Moonaree Dacite Gawler Range Volcanics, Australia 2,050 One of the oldest large eruptions preserved Rosalia flow Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 1,900 Joseph Creek flow Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 1,850 Ginkgo Basalt Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 1,600 California Creek–Airway Heights flow Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 1,500 Stember Creek flow Columbia River Basalt Group, United States 1,200

Large igneous provinces

Highly active periods of volcanism in what are called large igneous provinces have produced huge oceanic plateaus and flood basalts in the past. These can comprise hundreds of large eruptions, producing millions of km3 of lava in total. No large eruptions of flood basalts have occurred in human history, the most recent having occurred over 10 million years ago. They are often associated with breakup of supercontinents such as Pangea in the geologic record, and may have contributed to a number of mass extinctions. Most large igneous provinces have either not been studied thoroughly enough to establish the size of their component eruptions, or are not preserved well enough to make this possible. Many of the eruptions listed above thus come from just two large igneous provinces: the Paraná and Etendeka traps and the Columbia River Basalt Group. The latter is the most recent large igneous province, and also one of the smallest. A list of large igneous provinces follows to provide some indication of how many large eruptions may be missing from the lists given here.