Structural origin of Lake Singkarak in central Sumatra

Abstract

Since long it has been accepted that Lake Singkarak in Central Sumatra is nothing else but a remnant of a gigantic volcano — the Singkarak volcano — which once blew off its top to form a lake. Van Bemmelen, though not referring to Singkarak lake especially, explained the numerous depressions in Sumatra as the combined result of volcanic and tectonic activities, a phenomenon he called volcano-tectonic process which caused the formation of the socalled volcano-tectonic depressions.