Assessing the impact of volcanic activity on mid-Holocene climate in Ireland: the need for replicate data

Abstract

Analyses of pollen, tephra, mineral input and degree of peat humification from three neighbouring raised peat profiles at Corlea, central Ireland, covering the period of the deposition of a tephra layer dated to just before 2290 cal. BC, and thought to represent Hekla-4 (2310±20 BC), are used to show the problems of relying on data from a single profile when invoking relationships between volcanic activity, climate and ecosys-tem response. While there appears to be a strong correlation between tephra deposition and flooding of the bog surface in one profile, with a short-lived increase in the rate of peat accumulation, comparison with the other two records suggests that peat had already begun a trend to a less humified condition before tephra deposition, and that evidence of local bog surface flooding was neither consistent nor synchronous.