Volcanic glass from the 1.8 ka Taupō eruption (New Zealand) detected in Antarctic ice at ~ 230 CE. ...

• Main Authors: Piva, Stephen B, Barker, Simon J, Iverson, Nels A, Winton, V Holly L, Bertler, Nancy A N, Sigl, Michael, Wilson, Colin J N, Dunbar, Nelia W, Kurbatov, Andrei V, Carter, Lionel, Charlier, Bruce L A, Newnham, Rewi M
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2023
• Subjects: 530 Physics; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; ice core; Roosevelt Island; West Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/187042; https://boris.unibe.ch/187042/

Chemical anomalies in polar ice core records are frequently linked to volcanism; however, without the presence of (crypto)tephra particles, links to specific eruptions remain speculative. Correlating tephras yields estimates of eruption timing and potential source volcano, offers refinement of ice core chronologies, and provides insights into volcanic impacts. Here, we report on sparse rhyolitic glass shards detected in the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core (West Antarctica), attributed to the 1.8 ka Taupō eruption (New Zealand)-one of the largest and most energetic Holocene eruptions globally. Six shards of a distinctive geochemical composition, identical within analytical uncertainties to proximal Taupō glass, are accompanied by a single shard indistinguishable from glass of the ~25.5 ka Ōruanui supereruption, also from Taupō volcano. This double fingerprint uniquely identifies the source volcano and helps link the shards to the climactic phase of the Taupō eruption. The englacial ...