2019/10/08 by Laura Hartman, Andrei V. Kurbatov, Dominic Winski +11 · 32 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Chemistry · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Geological and Geochemical Analysis #Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena #Caldera #Volcano #Ice core #Tephra #Geology #Electron microprobe #Sulfate #Volcanic glass #Mineralogy #Geochemistry #Earth science #Volcanic rock #Chemistry #Climatology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-50939-x
published in Scientific Reports 9(1), 14437 (Nature Portfolio)
openalex publication_date 2019/10/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
A large volcanic sulfate increase observed in ice core records around 1450 C.E. has been attributed in previous studies to a volcanic eruption from the submarine Kuwae caldera in Vanuatu. Both EPMA-WDS (electron microprobe analysis using a wavelength dispersive spectrometer) and SEM-EDS (scanning electron microscopy analysis using an energy dispersive spectrometer) analyses of five microscopic volcanic ash (cryptotephra) particles extracted from the ice interval associated with a rise in sulfate ca. 1458 C.E. in the South Pole ice core (SPICEcore) indicate that the tephra deposits are chemically distinct from those erupted from the Kuwae caldera. Recognizing that the sulfate peak is not associated with the Kuwae volcano, and likely not a large stratospheric tropical eruption, requires revision of the stratospheric sulfate injection mass that is used for parameterization of paleoclimate models. Future work is needed to confirm that a volcanic eruption from Mt. Reclus is one of the possible sources of the 1458 C.E. sulfate anomaly in Antarctic ice cores.