The 1257 Samalas eruption (Lombok, Indonesia): the single greatest stratospheric gas release of the Common Era

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Vidal, Céline M., Métrich, Nicole, Komorowski, Jean-Christophe, Pratomo, Indyo, Kartadinata, Nugraha, Michel, Agnès, Robert, Vincent, Lavigne, Franck
• Other Authors: Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Museum Geologi, Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazards Mitigation, Badan Geologi, Observatoire Volcanologique et Sismologique de la Guadeloupe, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris), Laboratoire de géographie physique : Environnements Quaternaires et Actuels (LGP), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Natural hazards; Geochemistry; Volcanology; [SDU.STU.VO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Volcanology; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; ice core
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01481340; https://hal.science/hal-01481340/document; https://hal.science/hal-01481340/file/srep34868.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34868

International audience Large explosive eruptions inject volcanic gases and fine ash to stratospheric altitudes, contributing to global cooling at the Earth’s surface and occasionally to ozone depletion. The modelling of the climate response to these strong injections of volatiles commonly relies on ice-core records of volcanic sulphate aerosols. Here we use an independent geochemical approach which demonstrates that the great 1257 eruption of Samalas (Lombok, Indonesia) released enough sulphur and halogen gases into the stratosphere to produce the reported global cooling during the second half of the 13th century, as well as potential substantial ozone destruction. Major, trace and volatile element compositions of eruptive products recording the magmatic differentiation processes leading to the 1257 eruption indicate that Mt Samalas released 158 ± 12 Tg of sulphur dioxide, 227 ± 18 Tg of chlorine and a maximum of 1.3 ± 0.3 Tg of bromine. These emissions stand as the greatest volcanogenic gas injection of the Common Era. Our findings not only provide robust constraints for the modelling of the combined impact of sulphur and halogens on stratosphere chemistry of the largest eruption of the last millennium, but also develop a methodology to better quantify the degassing budgets of explosive eruptions of all magnitudes.