Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2021
Abstract
A comprehensive record (WHV2020) of explosive volcanic eruptions in the last 11,000 years is reconstructed from the West Antarctica Ice Sheet Divide deep ice core (WDC). The chronological list of 426 large volcanic eruptions in the Southern Hemisphere and the low latitudes during the Holocene are of the highest quality of all volcanic records from ice cores, owing to the high-resolution chemical measurement of the ice core and the exceptionally accurate WDC timescale. No apparent trend is found in the frequency (number of eruptions per millennium) of volcanic eruptions, and the number of eruptions in the most recent millennium (1,000–2,000 CE) is only slightly higher than the average in the last 11 millennia. The atmospheric aerosol mass loading of climate-impacting sulfur, estimated from measured volcanic sulfate deposition, is dominated by explosive eruptions with extraordinarily high sulfur mass loading. Signals of three major volcanic eruptions are detected in the second half of the 17th century (1700–1600) BCE when the Thera volcano in the eastern Mediterranean was suspected to have erupted; the fact that these signals are synchronous with three volcanic eruptions detected in Greenland ice cores suggests that these are likely eruptions in the low latitudes and none should be attributed exclusively to Thera. A number of eruptions with very high sulfur mass loading took place shortly before and during an early Holocene climatic episode, the so-called 8.2 ka event, and are speculated to have contributed to the initiation and magnitude of the cold event.
Publication Title
JGR Atmospheres
Volume
126
Format
application/pdf
DOI of Published Version
10.1029/2020JD032855
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Rights
Copyright © 2021. The Authors
Recommended Citation
Cole-Dai, Jihong; Harris, David G.; Kennedy, Joshua A.; Sigl, Michael; McConnell, Joseph R.; Fudge, T. J.; Geng, Lei; Maselli, Olivia J.; Taylor, Kendrick C.; and Souney, Joseph M., "Comprehensive Record of Volcanic Eruptions in the Holocene (11,000 years) From the WAIS Divide, Antarctica Ice Core" (2021). Ice Core and Environmental Chemistry Lab Datasets and Publications. 3.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/icecl_data/3
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Atmospheric Sciences Commons, Climate Commons, Earth Sciences Commons, Environmental Sciences Commons
Comments
Cole-Dai, Jihong, David G. Ferris, Joshua A. Kennedy, Michael Sigl, Joseph R. McConnell, T. J. Fudge, , Kendrick C. Taylor, Joseph M. Souney, Lei Geng, and Olivia J. Maselli (2021), Comprehensive Record of Volcanic Eruptions in the Holocene (11,000 years) from the WAIS Divide, Antarctica ice core, Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 126, doi: 10.1029/2020JD032855.