Greenland ice core evidence of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption

• Published in: Climate of the Past
• Main Authors: BARBANTE, Carlo, N. Kehrwald, P. Marianelli, B. Vinther, J. Steffensen, G. Cozzi, C. Hammer, H. Clausen, M. Siggaard Andersen
• Other Authors: Barbante, Carlo, N., Kehrwald, P., Marianelli, B., Vinther, J., Steffensen, G., Cozzi, C., Hammer, H., Clausen, M., Siggaard Andersen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Greenland; Greenland ice core; Greenland Ice core Project; GRIP; ice core
• 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

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.