Characteristics and Possible Source of a 1479 A.D. Volcanic Ash Layer in a Greenland Ice Core

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Fiacco, R. Joseph, Palais, Julie M., Germani, Mark S., Zielinski, Gregory A., Mayewski, Paul A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1993
• Subjects: Greenland; Greenland ice core; ice core
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.1993.1033; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589483710331?httpAccept=text/xml; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589483710331?httpAccept=text/plain; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400034426

Abstract A microparticle concentration peak in a GISP2 ice core contains volcanic glass shards of rhyolitic composition that correspond in age to the 1479-1480 A.D. Mt. St. Helens Wn eruption. These glass shards are compositionally similar to the Wn tephra and constitute 83% of the total particle population. The shards are very coarse-grained (up to 40 μm diameter), suggesting rapid transport from their source to Greenland. A major sulfate peak in the ice occurs approximately 4 months after deposition of the glass shards. This difference in depositional timing suggests primarily tropospheric transport of the ash and stratospheric transport of the sulfate aerosol. Large-scale climatic perturbations following this eruption were evidently negligible. Glaciochemical seasonal indicators suggest a late-fall to early-winter 1479 A.D. eruption.