Of Fire and Water

The serene landscapes of the island of the god can be as deceptive as the peaceful demeanour of its people. Bali’s majestic mountain’s, serrated coastal edges, and long gorges carved by rushing water all the product of geological violence that always threatens.

Bali thought to have arisen from the sea about three million years ago. A geological doughter of java, it is separated from its mother by a shallow strait only 2 km wide. With Sumatra, B Borneo, and Java, Bali sits on the Sunda plate, one of money similar tectonic plates that make up the earth’s magma, these blundering bullies push and shove each other into the underlying molten layer.

Some 250km south of Java and Bali, the rigid Sunda plate, moving southward at the speed of 6cm a year, squares off with the Indo-Australian plate, forcing It underneath. Even at this gentle speed, the momentum generated by these huge masses of rock creates enormous tension, which is released in sporadic earthquakes. Molten magma from deep below rushes to the surface, giving birth to a long arc of volcanoes along the divide. Further south, where the Indo-Australia plate plunges downward, the java Trench runs more than 4000km parallel to the coast, reaching a depth of 7,725m south of java.

The tiny island Bali 5,561sq. km, 140km east west and 70km north-south has inherited six major volcanoes from all this energy. Their cones pierced the limestone that probably once covered most of the island. Two of them, Agung and Batur, are still active , erupting after dormant periods that lull people into a false sense of security. The tallest. Mt agung, soars to 3,142m. Its latest major blast, in 1963, killed over a thousand people. The devastation is still visible on its lava-covered slopes.

Yet the Balinese keep rebuilding their houses near the volcanoes, attracted by the bounty they generate. The deadly peaks are also the main source of wealth on the island. Eruptions over the centuries have laid blankets of nutrient-rich ash. Carried to fields by the many rivers flowing from the mountains, they provide a natural fertilliser. Perhaps this is away the Balinese don’t believe that anything is inherently good or bad in their world, good can be borne of evil snd vice versa, and man must strive to keep both in balance.