Identification of Aniakchak (Alaska) tephra in Greenland ice core challenges the 1645 BC date for Minoan eruption of Santorini

doi:doi:10.1029/2003GC000672

Abstract

Cited By

Abstract

Identification of Aniakchak (Alaska) tephra in Greenland ice core challenges the 1645 BC date for Minoan eruption of Santorini

Nicholas J. G. Pearce

Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, U.K.

John A. Westgate

Department of Geology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B1, Canada

Shari J. Preece

Department of Geology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B1, Canada

Warren J. Eastwood

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, U.K.

William T. Perkins

Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, U.K.

Minute shards of volcanic glass recovered from the 1645 ± 4 BC layer in the Greenland GRIP ice core have recently been claimed to originate from the Minoan eruption of Santorini [ Hammer et al., 2003 ]. This is a significant claim because a precise age for the Minoan eruption provides an important time constraint on the evolution of civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean. There are however significant differences between the concentrations of SiO₂, TiO₂, MgO, Ba, Sr, Nb and LREE between the ice core glass and the Minoan eruption, such that they cannot be correlatives. New chemical analyses of tephra from the Late Holocene eruption of the Aniakchak Volcano in Alaska, however, show a remarkable similarity to the ice core glass for all elements, and this eruption is proposed as the most likely source of the glass in the GRIP ice core. This provides a precise date of 1645 BC for the eruption of Aniakchak and is the first firm identification of Alaskan tephra in the Greenland ice cores. The age of the Minoan eruption of Santorini, however, remains unresolved.

Received 4 December 2003; accepted 2 February 2004; published 20 March 2004.

Citation: Pearce, N. J. G., J. A. Westgate, S. J. Preece, W. J. Eastwood, and W. T. Perkins (2004), Identification of Aniakchak (Alaska) tephra in Greenland ice core challenges the 1645 BC date for Minoan eruption of Santorini, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 5, Q03005, doi:10.1029/2003GC000672.

Cited By

Denton, Joanna S., and Nicholas J. G. Pearce (2008), Comment on “A synchronized dating of three Greenland ice cores throughout the Holocene” by B. M. Vinther et al.: No Minoan tephra in the 1642 B.C. layer of the GRIP ice core, J Geophys Res, 113, D04303, doi:10.1029/2007JD008970.

Newton, Anthony J., Andrew J. Dugmore, and Bruce M. Gittings (2007), Tephrabase: tephrochronology and the development of a centralised European database, J Quaternary Sci, 22(7), 737, doi:10.1002/jqs.1094.

Pearce, Nicholas J. G., Joanna S. Denton, William T. Perkins, John A. Westgate, and Brent V. Alloway (2007), Correlation and characterisation of individual glass shards from tephra deposits using trace element laser ablation ICP-MS analyses: current status and future potential, J Quaternary Sci, 22(7), 721, doi:10.1002/jqs.1092.

Vinther, B. M., H. B. Clausen, S. J. Johnsen, S. O. Rasmussen, K. K. Andersen, S. L. Buchardt, D. Dahl-Jensen, I. K. Seierstad, M.-L. Siggaard-Andersen, and J. P. Steffensen (2006), A synchronized dating of three Greenland ice cores throughout the Holocene, J Geophys Res, 111, D13102, doi:10.1029/2005JD006921.

Vinther, B. M., H. B. Clausen, S. J. Johnsen, S. O. Rasmussen, J. P. Steffensen, K. K. Andersen, S. L. Buchardt, D. Dahl-Jensen, I. K. Seierstad, and A. M. Svensson (2008), Reply to comment by J. S. Denton and N. J. G. Pearce on “A synchronized dating of three Greenland ice cores throughout the Holocene”, J Geophys Res, 113, D12306, doi:10.1029/2007JD009083.