Vesuvius/Avellino, one possible source of seventeenth century BC climatic disturbances

Abstract

THE eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 (as described by Pliny) is the archetype1–4 of explosive 'plinian' eruptions which can cause recur-rent local destruction and which may affect global climate through aerosol emissions5–7. Studies of the past eruptions of such vol-canoes require accurate age determinations, especially if the erup-tions are to be correlated with distant events. Here we use materials from two plinian eruptions of Vesuvius, the AD 79 and the preceding Avelline1,8 event, to test the 14C methods that often provide these ages. Our 14C ages for charred samples and corrected soil reservoirs buried by the Avellino eruption averaged to 3,360 ±40 BP (1617–1703 cal BC), 200–500 years later than the original 14C ages of soil humic carbon9,10 and total organic carbon11. Furthermore, a re-evaluation of the 14C data for the Mount St Helens Yn and Aniakchak II eruptions suggests that these major plinian eruptions may also have occurred in the seventeenth century BC. The 14C ages for these three eruptions are identical, within uncertainties, to that of the 'Minoan’ eruption of Thera (Santorini), which has often been correlated with mid-seventeenth century BC disturb-ances recorded in tree-ring series12,13 and ice-core layers14. Addi-tional information is still required to distinguish which, if any, of the eruptions relate to these records.