Explosive eruption of El Chichón volcano (Mexico) disrupted 6 th century Maya civilization and contributed to global cooling
International audience A remarkably long period of Northern Hemispheric cooling in the 6 th century CE, which disrupted human societies across large parts of the globe, has been attributed to volcanic forcing of climate. A major tropical eruption in 540 CE is thought to have played a key role, but t...
Published in: | Geology |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2016
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://univ-tlse2.hal.science/hal-01515945 https://univ-tlse2.hal.science/hal-01515945/document https://univ-tlse2.hal.science/hal-01515945/file/Nooren%20et%20al.Geology-2017-Nooren-175-8.pdf https://doi.org/10.1130/G38739.1 |
Summary: | International audience A remarkably long period of Northern Hemispheric cooling in the 6 th century CE, which disrupted human societies across large parts of the globe, has been attributed to volcanic forcing of climate. A major tropical eruption in 540 CE is thought to have played a key role, but there is no consensus about the source volcano to date. Here, we present evidence for El Chichón in southern Mexico as the most likely candidate, based on a refined reconstruction of the volcano's eruption history. A new chronological framework, derived from distal tephra deposits and the world's largest Holocene beach ridge plain along the Gulf of Mexico, enabled us to positively link a major explosive event to a prominent volcanic sulfur spike in bipolar ice core records, dated at 540 CE. We speculate that voluminous tephra fall from the eruption had a severe environmental impact on Maya societies, leading to temporary cultural decline, site abandonment, and migration within the core area of Maya civilization. |
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