- james stevenson
- Bowmanville On
- Canada
This conversation has closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
What genetic evidence exists to support the Toba Extinction Theory?
About 70,000 years ago, the most violent volcanic eruption in history occured at what is now Lake Toba on the island of Summatra. It has been proposed that this eruption caused profound changes to the earth's climate and probable drought in Africa reducing the humans there to perhaps a few thousand, even hundreds. Of course, this would have left a genetic trace. What is the exact nature of that trace?
Douglas Bell
You should find your answers with some research on mitochondrial RNA. My understanding is that genetic changes occur at a predictable rate. Applying this rate to the RNA differences in modern humans suggests that all of us descended from a a very limited number of people who lived about the time of the Toba event. One explanation is that climate change due to the event killed off most of our species.
Best wishes,
Doug Bell