Greenland ice core evidence of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption
Volcanic tephra are independent age horizons and can synchronize strata of various paleoclimate records in- cluding ice and sediment cores. The Holocene section of the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core is dated by multi-parameter annual layer counting, and contains peaks in acidity, SO 2− a...
Published in: | Climate of the Past |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2013
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10278/38924 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1221-2013 http://www.clim-past.net/9/1221/2013/cp-9-1221-2013.pdf |
Summary: | Volcanic tephra are independent age horizons and can synchronize strata of various paleoclimate records in- cluding ice and sediment cores. The Holocene section of the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core is dated by multi-parameter annual layer counting, and contains peaks in acidity, SO 2− and microparticle concentrations at a depth of 4 429.1 to 429.3 m, which have not previously been definitively ascribed to a volcanic eruption. Here, we identify tephra par- ticles and determine that volcanic shards extracted from a depth of 429.3 m in the GRIP ice core are likely due to the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption. The chemical composition of the tephra particles is consistent with the K-phonolitic compo- sition of the Vesuvius juvenile ejecta and differs from the chemical composition of other major eruptions (≥VEI 4) between 50–100 AD. |
---|