Effects in North Africa of the 934-940 CE Eldgjá and 1783-1784 CE Laki eruptions (Iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources

In historic times, two catastrophic fissure eruptions originated in the Eastern Volcanic Zone of Iceland, known as Eldgjá eruption (939-940 CE) and Laki eruption (1783-1784 CE). Eldgjá produced 19.6 km3 of lava flows and 4 km3 of tephra; Laki emitted 15.1 km3 of lavas and 0.4 km3 of tephra. The La...

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Published in:Bulletin of Volcanology
Main Authors: Brugnatelli, V, Tibaldi A
Other Authors: Tibaldi, A
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10281/285051
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0
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spelling ftunivmilanobic:oai:boa.unimib.it:10281/285051 2024-04-21T08:05:40+00:00 Effects in North Africa of the 934-940 CE Eldgjá and 1783-1784 CE Laki eruptions (Iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources Brugnatelli, V Tibaldi A Brugnatelli, V Tibaldi, A 2020 STAMPA http://hdl.handle.net/10281/285051 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0 eng eng Springer country:DE info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000581007700001 volume:82 issue:11 firstpage:1 lastpage:14 numberofpages:14 journal:BULLETIN OF VOLCANOLOGY http://hdl.handle.net/10281/285051 doi:10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85093959082 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Eldgjá eruption Laki eruption historic chronicles dry fog North Africa History of Morocco History of Tunisia Djerba L-OR/09 - LINGUE E LETTERATURE DELL'AFRICA M-STO/01 - STORIA MEDIEVALE M-STO/02 - STORIA MODERNA GEO/08 - GEOCHIMICA E VULCANOLOGIA info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2020 ftunivmilanobic https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0 2024-03-28T01:17:19Z In historic times, two catastrophic fissure eruptions originated in the Eastern Volcanic Zone of Iceland, known as Eldgjá eruption (939-940 CE) and Laki eruption (1783-1784 CE). Eldgjá produced 19.6 km3 of lava flows and 4 km3 of tephra; Laki emitted 15.1 km3 of lavas and 0.4 km3 of tephra. The Laki eruption released also 122 megatons of SO2 into the atmosphere, which produced a sulfuric aerosol that spread across the northern hemisphere, as indicated by numerous historic chronicles in Europe. Abundant historic descriptions of the effects of the Laki eruption highlighted the devastating impacts on the population and the environment, especially in Europe. In this study, we present for the first time two written sources that enable fixing the exact date and place of occurrence in North Africa of the effects of the Eldgjá and Laki eruptions. These are a medieval North African chronicle known as Rawḍ al- Qirṭās, written in 1326 CE and describing events in Morocco, and a chronicle of events in the island of Djerba (southern Tunisia), written by Muhammad b. Yusef al-Musabi in 1792-1793 CE. These previously unrecognized sources describe in detail the fading of sunlight coupled with the persistent presence of a thick fog made up of fine particles carried over from long distances. The chronicles report events in Morocco in the time period October 938 - October 939 CE, and in Tunisia in the year 1783 CE. These data can be interpreted as the first detailed evidence of the consequences of the Eldgjá and Laki eruptions in North Africa. They also can be helpful in dating and determining the area of influence of the eruptions; this may be useful for several applications, such as the numerical simulation of these events, or hazard planning in case of possible future eruptions from the same Icelandic area. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca: BOA (Bicocca Open Archive) Bulletin of Volcanology 82 11
institution Open Polar
collection Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca: BOA (Bicocca Open Archive)
op_collection_id ftunivmilanobic
language English
topic Eldgjá eruption
Laki eruption
historic chronicles
dry fog
North Africa
History of Morocco
History of Tunisia
Djerba
L-OR/09 - LINGUE E LETTERATURE DELL'AFRICA
M-STO/01 - STORIA MEDIEVALE
M-STO/02 - STORIA MODERNA
GEO/08 - GEOCHIMICA E VULCANOLOGIA
spellingShingle Eldgjá eruption
Laki eruption
historic chronicles
dry fog
North Africa
History of Morocco
History of Tunisia
Djerba
L-OR/09 - LINGUE E LETTERATURE DELL'AFRICA
M-STO/01 - STORIA MEDIEVALE
M-STO/02 - STORIA MODERNA
GEO/08 - GEOCHIMICA E VULCANOLOGIA
Brugnatelli, V
Tibaldi A
Effects in North Africa of the 934-940 CE Eldgjá and 1783-1784 CE Laki eruptions (Iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources
topic_facet Eldgjá eruption
Laki eruption
historic chronicles
dry fog
North Africa
History of Morocco
History of Tunisia
Djerba
L-OR/09 - LINGUE E LETTERATURE DELL'AFRICA
M-STO/01 - STORIA MEDIEVALE
M-STO/02 - STORIA MODERNA
GEO/08 - GEOCHIMICA E VULCANOLOGIA
description In historic times, two catastrophic fissure eruptions originated in the Eastern Volcanic Zone of Iceland, known as Eldgjá eruption (939-940 CE) and Laki eruption (1783-1784 CE). Eldgjá produced 19.6 km3 of lava flows and 4 km3 of tephra; Laki emitted 15.1 km3 of lavas and 0.4 km3 of tephra. The Laki eruption released also 122 megatons of SO2 into the atmosphere, which produced a sulfuric aerosol that spread across the northern hemisphere, as indicated by numerous historic chronicles in Europe. Abundant historic descriptions of the effects of the Laki eruption highlighted the devastating impacts on the population and the environment, especially in Europe. In this study, we present for the first time two written sources that enable fixing the exact date and place of occurrence in North Africa of the effects of the Eldgjá and Laki eruptions. These are a medieval North African chronicle known as Rawḍ al- Qirṭās, written in 1326 CE and describing events in Morocco, and a chronicle of events in the island of Djerba (southern Tunisia), written by Muhammad b. Yusef al-Musabi in 1792-1793 CE. These previously unrecognized sources describe in detail the fading of sunlight coupled with the persistent presence of a thick fog made up of fine particles carried over from long distances. The chronicles report events in Morocco in the time period October 938 - October 939 CE, and in Tunisia in the year 1783 CE. These data can be interpreted as the first detailed evidence of the consequences of the Eldgjá and Laki eruptions in North Africa. They also can be helpful in dating and determining the area of influence of the eruptions; this may be useful for several applications, such as the numerical simulation of these events, or hazard planning in case of possible future eruptions from the same Icelandic area.
author2 Brugnatelli, V
Tibaldi, A
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Brugnatelli, V
Tibaldi A
author_facet Brugnatelli, V
Tibaldi A
author_sort Brugnatelli, V
title Effects in North Africa of the 934-940 CE Eldgjá and 1783-1784 CE Laki eruptions (Iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources
title_short Effects in North Africa of the 934-940 CE Eldgjá and 1783-1784 CE Laki eruptions (Iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources
title_full Effects in North Africa of the 934-940 CE Eldgjá and 1783-1784 CE Laki eruptions (Iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources
title_fullStr Effects in North Africa of the 934-940 CE Eldgjá and 1783-1784 CE Laki eruptions (Iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources
title_full_unstemmed Effects in North Africa of the 934-940 CE Eldgjá and 1783-1784 CE Laki eruptions (Iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources
title_sort effects in north africa of the 934-940 ce eldgjá and 1783-1784 ce laki eruptions (iceland) revealed by previously unrecognized written sources
publisher Springer
publishDate 2020
url http://hdl.handle.net/10281/285051
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0
genre Iceland
genre_facet Iceland
op_relation info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000581007700001
volume:82
issue:11
firstpage:1
lastpage:14
numberofpages:14
journal:BULLETIN OF VOLCANOLOGY
http://hdl.handle.net/10281/285051
doi:10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85093959082
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-020-01409-0
container_title Bulletin of Volcanology
container_volume 82
container_issue 11
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