New insights into the ∼ 74 ka Toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores
The ∼74 ka Toba eruption was one of the largest volcanic events of the Quaternary. There is much interest in determining the impact of such a large event, particularly on the climate and hominid populations at the time. Although the Toba eruption has been identified in both land and marine archives...
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:wX9ig-eNlCUAKeJc5c9dh 2023-05-15T13:40:50+02:00 New insights into the ∼ 74 ka Toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores Crick, Laura Burke, Andrea Hutchison, William Kohno, Mika Moore, Kathryn A. Savarino, Joel Doyle, Emily A. Mahony, Sue Kipfstuhl, Sepp Rae, James W. B. Steele, Robert C. J. Sparks, R. Stephen J. Wolff, Eric W. 2021-10-18 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/17/2119/2021/ en eng doi:10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021 10670/1.kqw07u https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/17/2119/2021/ undefined Geographica Helvetica - geography eISSN: 1814-9332 geo envir Text https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_18cf/ 2021 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021 2023-01-22T17:52:11Z The ∼74 ka Toba eruption was one of the largest volcanic events of the Quaternary. There is much interest in determining the impact of such a large event, particularly on the climate and hominid populations at the time. Although the Toba eruption has been identified in both land and marine archives as the Youngest Toba Tuff, its precise place in the ice core record is ambiguous. Several volcanic sulfate signals have been identified in both Antarctic and Greenland ice cores and span the Toba eruption 40Ar/39Ar age uncertainty. Here, we measure sulfur isotope compositions in Antarctic ice samples from the Dome C (EDC) and Dronning Maud Land (EDML) ice cores at high temporal resolution across 11 of these potential Toba sulfate peaks to identify candidates with sulfur mass-independent fractionation (S-MIF), indicative of an eruption whose plume reached altitudes at or above the stratospheric ozone layer. Using this method, we identify several candidate sulfate peaks that contain stratospheric sulfur. We further narrow down potential candidates based on the isotope signatures by identifying sulfate peaks that are due to a volcanic event at tropical latitudes. In one of these sulfate peaks at 73.67 ka, we find the largest ever reported magnitude of S-MIF in volcanic sulfate in polar ice, with a Δ33S value of −4.75 ‰. As there is a positive correlation between the magnitude of the S-MIF signal recorded in ice cores and eruptive plume height, this could be a likely candidate for the Toba super-eruption, with a plume top height in excess of 45 km. These results support the 73.7±0.3 ka (1σ) 40Ar/39Ar age estimate for the eruption, with ice core ages of our candidates with the largest magnitude S-MIF at 73.67 and 73.74 ka. Finally, since these candidate eruptions occurred on the transition into Greenland Stadial 20, the relative timing suggests that Toba was not the trigger for the large Northern Hemisphere cooling at this time although we cannot rule out an amplifying effect. Text Antarc* Antarctic Dronning Maud Land Greenland Greenland ice cores ice core Unknown Antarctic Dronning Maud Land Greenland Climate of the Past 17 5 2119 2137 |
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geo envir Crick, Laura Burke, Andrea Hutchison, William Kohno, Mika Moore, Kathryn A. Savarino, Joel Doyle, Emily A. Mahony, Sue Kipfstuhl, Sepp Rae, James W. B. Steele, Robert C. J. Sparks, R. Stephen J. Wolff, Eric W. New insights into the ∼ 74 ka Toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores |
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geo envir |
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The ∼74 ka Toba eruption was one of the largest volcanic events of the Quaternary. There is much interest in determining the impact of such a large event, particularly on the climate and hominid populations at the time. Although the Toba eruption has been identified in both land and marine archives as the Youngest Toba Tuff, its precise place in the ice core record is ambiguous. Several volcanic sulfate signals have been identified in both Antarctic and Greenland ice cores and span the Toba eruption 40Ar/39Ar age uncertainty. Here, we measure sulfur isotope compositions in Antarctic ice samples from the Dome C (EDC) and Dronning Maud Land (EDML) ice cores at high temporal resolution across 11 of these potential Toba sulfate peaks to identify candidates with sulfur mass-independent fractionation (S-MIF), indicative of an eruption whose plume reached altitudes at or above the stratospheric ozone layer. Using this method, we identify several candidate sulfate peaks that contain stratospheric sulfur. We further narrow down potential candidates based on the isotope signatures by identifying sulfate peaks that are due to a volcanic event at tropical latitudes. In one of these sulfate peaks at 73.67 ka, we find the largest ever reported magnitude of S-MIF in volcanic sulfate in polar ice, with a Δ33S value of −4.75 ‰. As there is a positive correlation between the magnitude of the S-MIF signal recorded in ice cores and eruptive plume height, this could be a likely candidate for the Toba super-eruption, with a plume top height in excess of 45 km. These results support the 73.7±0.3 ka (1σ) 40Ar/39Ar age estimate for the eruption, with ice core ages of our candidates with the largest magnitude S-MIF at 73.67 and 73.74 ka. Finally, since these candidate eruptions occurred on the transition into Greenland Stadial 20, the relative timing suggests that Toba was not the trigger for the large Northern Hemisphere cooling at this time although we cannot rule out an amplifying effect. |
format |
Text |
author |
Crick, Laura Burke, Andrea Hutchison, William Kohno, Mika Moore, Kathryn A. Savarino, Joel Doyle, Emily A. Mahony, Sue Kipfstuhl, Sepp Rae, James W. B. Steele, Robert C. J. Sparks, R. Stephen J. Wolff, Eric W. |
author_facet |
Crick, Laura Burke, Andrea Hutchison, William Kohno, Mika Moore, Kathryn A. Savarino, Joel Doyle, Emily A. Mahony, Sue Kipfstuhl, Sepp Rae, James W. B. Steele, Robert C. J. Sparks, R. Stephen J. Wolff, Eric W. |
author_sort |
Crick, Laura |
title |
New insights into the ∼ 74 ka Toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores |
title_short |
New insights into the ∼ 74 ka Toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores |
title_full |
New insights into the ∼ 74 ka Toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores |
title_fullStr |
New insights into the ∼ 74 ka Toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores |
title_full_unstemmed |
New insights into the ∼ 74 ka Toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores |
title_sort |
new insights into the ∼ 74 ka toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/17/2119/2021/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Dronning Maud Land Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Dronning Maud Land Greenland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Dronning Maud Land Greenland Greenland ice cores ice core |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Dronning Maud Land Greenland Greenland ice cores ice core |
op_source |
Geographica Helvetica - geography eISSN: 1814-9332 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021 10670/1.kqw07u https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/17/2119/2021/ |
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undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
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17 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2119 |
op_container_end_page |
2137 |
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1766141002123313152 |