@article{821eed44e1d7495492e8d814c4ef75e3,
title = "Radiocarbon and geologic evidence reveal Ilopango volcano as source of the colossal {\textquoteleft}mystery{\textquoteright} eruption of 539/40 CE",
abstract = "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 km2. 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 km3 Dense Rock Equivalent of magma, magnitude = 7.0) and sulfur yield (∼9–90 Tg), along with Ilopango's latitude (13.7° 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.",
keywords = "Central America, Classic period, Climate dynamics, Global, Holocene, Maya, Radiocarbon, Sixth century, Tree rings, Volcanology",
author = "Dull, {Robert A.} and Southon, {John R.} and Steffen Kutterolf and Anchukaitis, {Kevin J.} and Armin Freundt and Wahl, {David B.} and Payson Sheets and Paul Amaroli and Walter Hernandez and Wiemann, {Michael C.} and Clive Oppenheimer",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Willie Scott, Jason Curtis, and Mark Brenner for sending us tephra samples from suspected TBJ deposits; National Director of Cultural Patrimony of El Salvador Arq. Gustavo Mil{\'a}n, Edgar Cabrera, and Fundaci{\'o}n Nacional de Arqueolog{\'i}a de El Salvador for support with fieldwork by RD and PA in El Salvador. This research was supported by the United States Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping and Climate Research and Development Programs . SK and AF acknowledge funding by SFB 574 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. KA acknowledges funding from NOAA Grant NA18OAR4310420 . RD acknowledges support from the University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences, Social Sciences Research Council, and EOne Television (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). CO receives support from the NERC Center for Observation and Modeling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics. Funding Information: We thank Willie Scott, Jason Curtis, and Mark Brenner for sending us tephra samples from suspected TBJ deposits; National Director of Cultural Patrimony of El Salvador Arq. Gustavo Mil{\'a}n, Edgar Cabrera, and Fundaci{\'o}n Nacional de Arqueolog{\'i}a de El Salvador for support with fieldwork by RD and PA in El Salvador. This research was supported by the United States Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping and Climate Research and Development Programs. SK and AF acknowledge funding by SFB 574 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. KA acknowledges funding from NOAA Grant NA18OAR4310420. RD acknowledges support from the University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences, Social Sciences Research Council, and EOne Television (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). CO receives support from the NERC Center for Observation and Modeling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 Elsevier Ltd",
year = "2019",
month = oct,
day = "15",
doi = "10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.037",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "222",
journal = "Quaternary Science Reviews",
issn = "0277-3791",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",
}