A 110,000-Yr Record of Explosive Volcanism from the GISP2 (Greenland) Ice Core

The time series of volcanically produced sulfate from the GISP2 ice core is used to develop a continuous record of explosive volcanism over the past 110,000 yr. We identified ∼850 volcanic signals (700 of these from 110,000 to 9000 yr ago) with sulfate concentrations greater than that associated with historical eruptions from either equatorial or mid-latitude regions that are known to have perturbed global or Northern Hemisphere climate, respectively. This number is a minimum because decreasing sampling resolution with depth, source volcano location, variable circulation patterns at the time of the eruption, and post-depositional modification of the signal can result in an incomplete record. The largest and most abundant volcanic signals over the past 110,000 yr, even after accounting for lower sampling resolution in the earlier part of the record, occur between 17,000 and 6000 yr ago, during and following the last deglaciation. A second period of enhanced volcanism occurs 35,000–22,000 yr ago, leading up to and during the last glacial maximum. These findings further support a possible climate-forcing component in volcanism. Increased volcanism often occurs during stadial/interstadial transitions within the last glaciation, but this is not consistent over the entire cycle. Ages for some of the largest known eruptions 100,000–9000 yr ago closely correspond to individual sulfate peaks or groups of peaks in our record.

[1]  Climate-Volcanism Feedback and the Toba Eruption of ∼74,000 Years Ago , 1993 .

[2]  M. Ledbetter.  Tephrochronology of marine tephra adjacent to Central America , 1985 .

[3]  M. Nakada,et al.  Ice age as a trigger of active Quaternary volcanism and tectonism , 1992 .

[4]  L. Vezzoli.  Tephra layers in Bannock Basin (Eastern Mediterranean) , 1991 .

[5]  A. Robock.  The "Little Ice Age": Northern Hemisphere Average Observations and Model Calculations , 1979, Science.

[6]  G. Sigvaldason,et al.  Effect of glacier loading/deloading on volcanism: postglacial volcanic production rate of the Dyngjufjöll area, central Iceland , 1992 .

[7]  P. Mayewski,et al.  Ice-core sulfate from three northern hemisphere sites: Source and temperature forcing implications , 1993 .

[8]  T. Simkin.  Terrestrial volcanism in space and time , 1993 .

[9]  J. R. Bray.  Volcanic triggering of glaciation , 1976, Nature.

[10]  J. Beer,et al.  Evidence for enhanced 10Be deposition in Mediterranean sediments 35 kyr BP , 1995 .

[11]  H. Sigurdsson,et al.  Deep-Sea Record of Cenozoic Explosive Volcanism in the North Atlantic , 1981 .

[12]  J. R. Bray,et al.  Glacial advance relative to volcanic activity since 1500 AD , 1974, Nature.

[13]  J. Mangerud,et al.  Geochemistry of Pleistocene ash zones in cores from the North Atlantic , 1989 .

[14]  M. Legrand,et al.  A 220-year continuous record of volcanic H2SO4 in the Antarctic ice sheet , 1987, Nature.

[15]  S. C. Porter.  Recent glacier variations and volcanic eruptions , 1981, Nature.

[16]  A. Robock,et al.  Ice cores as an index of global volcanism from 1850 to the present , 1995 .

[17]  W. Dansgaard,et al.  Greenland ice sheet evidence of post-glacial volcanism and its climatic impact , 1980, Nature.

[18]  J. Jouzel,et al.  A 135,000‐year Vostok‐Specmap Common temporal framework , 1993 .

[19]  A J Gow,et al.  Record of Volcanism Since 7000 B.C. from the GISP2 Greenland Ice Core and Implications for the Volcano-Climate System , 1994, Science.

[20]  A. Sarna‐Wojcicki,et al.  Tephrochronologic correlation of upper Neogene sediments along the Pacific margin, conterminous United States , 1991 .

[21]  Robert L. Smith,et al.  Late Quaternary caldera-forming eruptions in the eastern Aleutian arc, Alaska , 1987 .

[22]  D. Lowe,et al.  A review of late Quaternary silicic and some other tephra formations from New Zealand: Their stratigraphy, nomenclature, distribution, volume, and age , 1990 .

[23]  R. Sparks,et al.  The Los Chocoyos Ash, Guatemala: A Major Stratigraphic Marker in Middle America and in Three Ocean Basins , 1980, Quaternary Research.

[24]  Hans-Ulrich Schmincke,et al.  Laacher See Tephra: A widespread isochronous late Quaternary tephra layer in central and northern Europe , 1985 .

[25]  J. Mangerud,et al.  A 9000-Year-old Ash Bed on the Faroe Islands , 1986, Quaternary Research.

[26]  Hans-Ulrich Schmincke,et al.  Evolution of complex plinian eruptions: The Late Quaternary Laacher See case history , 1990 .

[27]  J. Palais,et al.  Inter‐hemispheric Transport of Volcanic Ash from a 1259 A.D. Volcanic Eruption to the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets , 1992 .

[28]  J. Peixoto,et al.  Physics of climate , 1992 .

[29]  DOUGLAS F. Williams,et al.  Tephrochronology of the Western Gulf of Mexico for the Last 185,000 Years , 1985, Quaternary Research.

[30]  W. Rose,et al.  Quaternary Tephra of Northern Central America , 1981 .

[31]  S. Kirchner,et al.  1000 years of explosive volcanism recorded at the South Pole , 1992 .

[32]  S. C. Porter.  Glacier Peak Tephra in the North Cascade Range, Washington: Stratigraphy, Distribution, and Relationship to Late-Glacial Events , 1978, Quaternary Research.

[33]  S. Self,et al.  Can Rapid Climatic Change Cause Volcanic Eruptions? , 1979, Science.

[34]  P. Reimer,et al.  Extended 14C Data Base and Revised CALIB 3.0 14C Age Calibration Program , 1993, Radiocarbon: An International Journal of Cosmogenic Isotope Research.

[35]  W. Rose,et al.  Eruptive history of Earth's largest Quaternary caldera (Toba, Indonesia) clarified , 1991 .