A revised age of ad 667–699 for the latest major eruption at Rabaul

Abstract

Abstract:The most recent major eruption at Rabaul was one of the largest known events at this complex system, having a VEI rating of 6. The eruption generated widespread airfall pumice lapilli and ash deposits and ignimbrites of different types. The total volume of pyroclastic material produced in the eruption exceeded 11 km3 and led to a new phase of collapse within Rabaul Caldera. Initial 14C dating of the eruptive products yielded an age of about 1400 yrs BP, and the eruption became known as the "1400 BP" eruption. Previous analyses of the timing of the eruption have linked it to events in AD 536 and AD 639. However, we have re-evaluated the age of the eruption using the Bayesian wiggle-match radiocarbon dating method, and the eruption is now thought to have occurred in the interval AD 667-699. The only significant equatorial eruptions recorded in both Greenland and Antarctic ice during this interval are at AD 681 and AD 684, dates that coincide with frost rings in bristlecone pines of western USA in the same years. Definitively linking the Rabaul eruption to this narrow age range will require identification of Rabaul tephra in the ice records. However, it is proposed that a new working hypothesis for the timing of the most recent major eruption at Rabaul is that it occurred in the interval AD 681-684. Response to Reviewers: See attachment Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation ABSTRACTThe most recent major eruption at Rabaul was one of the largest known volcanic events at this

An overview of recent (1988 to 2014) caldera unrest: Knowledge and perspectives

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Natural Disasters in the History of the Eastern Turk Empire

“…Anomalous climatic events of AD 680-685 are also confirmed by tree-ring data from North America, Europe, the Yamal and by ice-core results from the Antarctic and Greenland (Salzer and Hughes 2007;Gao et al 2008;Plummer et al 2012;Sigl et al 2013Sigl et al , 2015McKee et al 2015).…”

“…Most climatologists believe that the reason for such phenomena is a large explosive volcanic eruption. It is quite possible that the center of the explosive volcanic eruption in AD 626 was in the Northern Hemisphere, and in AD 536, 581, 679 in the Southern Hemisphere, whereas in AD 536 and in AD 679, the eruption was supposedly caused by the Tavurvur volcano (Gao et al 2008;McKee et al 2015;Sigl et al 2015).…”

Stratigraphy, age and correlation of two widespread Late Holocene tephras preserved within Lake Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea

“…In the conversion of radiocarbon ages to calendar years there has been recent debate as to whether Northern or Southern Hemisphere calibration curves should be applied to samples from PNG (e.g. McKee et al ., ). In this study we too have opted to use the Northern Hemisphere curves as New Guinea lies very close to the January inter‐tropical convergence zone, which is probably strongly influenced by northern air masses.…”