84 Environmental Catastrophes and Recovery in the Holocene
Wednesday, 30 July 2003
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
ABSOLUTE DATING OF THE CLIMATIC EVENT IN THE 6'TH CENTURY
Paper number: 84-11
Program: SYMPOSIA
Time: 11:10 AM – 11:30 AM
Authors
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Henrik B. ClausenUniv of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, N/A
Abstract
Various sources, historical, archaeological, geological and geophysical indicate a climatic catastrophe in the 6'th century. In the Greenland ice cores we have a candidate for creating such a catastrophic event. We have a spike in the record of sulfuric acid, followed by a temperature decrease. Investigations of the chemical data indicate a very large unknown volcanic eruption in the order of magnitude of the Tambora AD 1815 eruption. That it was a global event is verified from the Antarctic ice cores. Using the latest data, from the North GRIP ice core correlated to the other ice cores drilled in Greenland and applying a new technique in counting annual layers, we were able to make an absolute dating of the climatic event in the 6'th century.