Radiocarbon and geologic evidence reveal Ilopango volcano as source of the colossal 'mystery' eruption of 539/40 CE

QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

卷:222

Article

Dull, Robert A.^1,2  Southon, John R.³  Kutterolf, Steffen⁴  Anchukaitis, Kevin J.^5,6  Freundt, Armin⁴  Wahl, David B.^7,8  Sheets, Payson⁹  Amaroli, Paul¹⁰  Hernandez, Walter¹¹  Wiemann, Michael C.¹²  Oppenheimer, Clive¹³ 

[1] Calif Lutheran Univ, Dept Earth & Environm Sci, 60 W Olsen Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 USA

[2] Univ Texas Austin, Environm Sci Inst, Austin, TX 78712 USA

[3] Univ Calif Irvine, Dept Earth Syst Sci, Irvine, CA 92697 USA

[4] Helmholtz Ctr Ocean Res, GEOMAR, Wischhofstr 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany

[5] Univ Arizona, Sch Geog & Dev, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA

[6] Univ Arizona, Lab Tree Ring Res, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA

[7] US Geol Survey, Menlo Pk, CA 94025 USA

[8] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Geog, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

[9] Univ Colorado, Dept Anthropol, Boulder, CO 80309 USA

[10] FUNDAR, Fdn Nacl Arqueol El Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador

[11] Minist Medio Ambiente & Recursos Nat, San Salvador, El Salvador

[12] USDA, Forest Prod Lab, Madison, WI 53726 USA

[13] Univ Cambridge, Dept Geog, Downing Pl, Cambridge CB2 3EN, England

关键词: Holocene;    Sixth century;    Climate dynamics;    Global;    Central America;    Tree rings;    Volcanology;    Radiocarbon;    Maya;    Classic period;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.037

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Ilopango volcano (El Salvador) erupted violently during the Maya Classic Period (250-900 CE) in a densely-populated and intensively-cultivated region of the southern Maya realm, causing regional abandonment of an area covering more than 20,000 km(2). However, neither the regional nor global impacts of the Tierra Blanca Joven (TBJ) eruption in Mesoamerica have been well appraised due to limitations in available volcanological, chronological, and archaeological observations. Here we present new evidence of the age, magnitude and sulfur release of the TBJ eruption, establishing it as one of the two hitherto unidentified volcanic triggers of a period of stratospheric aerosol loading that profoundly impacted Northern Hemisphere climate and society between circa 536 and 550 CE. Our chronology is derived from 100 new radiocarbon measurements performed on three subfossil tree trunks enveloped in proximal TBJ pyroclastic deposits. We also reassess the eruption magnitude using terrestrial (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) and near-shore marine TBJ tephra deposit thickness measurements. Together, our new constraints on the age, eruption size (43.6 km(3) Dense Rock Equivalent of magma, magnitude = 7.0) and sulfur yield (similar to 9-90 Tg), along with Ilopango's latitude (13.7 degrees N), squarely frame the TBJ as the major climate-forcing eruption of 539 or 540 CE identified in bipolar ice cores and sourced to the tropics. In addition to deepening appreciation of the TBJ eruption's impacts in Mesoamerica, linking it to the major Northern Hemisphere climatic downturn of the mid-6th century CE offers another piece in the puzzle of understanding Eurasian history of the period. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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