Radiocarbon and geologic evidence reveal Ilopango volcano as source of the colossal 'mystery' eruption of 539/40 CE
Radiocarbon and geologic evidence reveal Ilopango volcano as source of the colossal 'mystery' eruption of 539/40 CE
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DOI：
10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.037
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发表时间：
2019-10-15
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Oppenheimer, Clive
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dull, Robert A.;Southon, John R.;Oppenheimer, Clive
伊洛潘戈火山（萨尔瓦多）在玛雅经典时期（公元 250-900 年）在玛雅王国南部人口密集、耕种密集的地区猛烈喷发，导致面积超过 20,000 平方公里的区域被遗弃(2)。然而，由于现有的火山学、年代学和考古学观测的局限性，中美洲的布兰卡青年火山 (TBJ) 喷发的区域和全球影响都没有得到很好的评估。在这里，我们提出了关于 TBJ 喷发的年龄、强度和硫释放的新证据，将其确定为迄今为止在公元 536 年至 550 年左右对北半球气候和社会产生深远影响的平流层气溶胶负荷时期的两个尚未确定的火山触发因素之一。我们的年代学是根据对近端 TBJ 火山碎屑沉积物包裹的三个亚化石树干进行的 100 次新放射性碳测量得出的。我们还使用陆地（萨尔瓦多、危地马拉、洪都拉斯）和近岸海洋 TBJ 火山灰沉积物厚度测量重新评估喷发强度。我们对年龄、喷发规模（43.6 km(3) 致密岩浆当量，震级 = 7.0）和硫产量（类似于 9-90 Tg）以及 Ilopango 的纬度（北纬 13.7 度）的新限制，将 TBJ 明确界定为在双极冰芯中确定的公元 539 或 540 年的主要气候强迫喷发，并源自热带地区。除了加深对 TBJ 喷发对中美洲影响的认识之外，将其与公元 6 世纪中叶北半球的主要气候衰退联系起来，为理解这一时期的欧亚历史难题提供了另一块线索。 (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. 保留所有权利。
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.