Redated Eruption of Eifel's Laacher See Volcano Confirmed, Brings Clarity to European Climate Shift

The towering Laacher See Volcano's eruption was redated by a team of experts in a recent study conducted. The massive volcano, located on the mountain range of Eifel, Germany, had exhibited one of the most destructive eruptions over the past 100,000 years in Central Europe.

Precise Dating of Laacher See Volcano Eruption in Germany Identified by Scientists

The eruption of Laacher See Volcano blasted fragment materials, also known as tephra, with a volume of 20 cubic kilometers. It was also identified that the volcano's explosion reached a height of 20 kilometers over the skies, which the 1991 Philippine Pinatubo eruption also exhibited.

The study published in the journal Nature entitled "Precise date for the Laacher See eruption synchronizes the Younger Dryas" used modern innovations to find out the exact date of the eruption. Along with the technology used, the buried trees underground also contributed to the re-dating of one of the largest eruptions recorded.

In reference to the study, it was confirmed that the Laacher Volcano's erupted 13,077 years ago, a date 126 earlier than the initial examination. The redated eruption of the German volcano is crucial to uncover some of the biggest questions in the European and Northern Atlantic climate shift. According to Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz dendrochronologist and principal author of the study Frederick Reinig, the final glacial period can be now examined and dated properly. How it affected the global climate and temperature drop and the Greenland Ice Sheet cores will be further studied through the Laacher See volcano eruption.

The Laacher See eruption was a natural event that hit most of the regions in Europe. Even though it is a normal phenomenon, the German volcano did affect nearby areas, such as Italy and Saint Petersburg, with thick ash emissions. A lot of volcanic deposits, which buried most of existing life, are also found in the immediate regions of the Laacher See, such as the Rhine Valley, JGU reports.

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Laacher See Eruption and Large-Scale Climate Dynamics in Europe

Reinig added that the trees and vegetation were still preserved under the pyroclastic flows due to the massive explosion. The charred logs and plants buried under the volcanic soil are actually rare and are very challenging for other experts to find, but they are fortunate enough to unearth some of them and be a medium to redate the Laacher See volcano.

The Laacher See study examined not only the ash and volcanic materials but also the preserved woods from ancient trees. With the observation of the individual tree rings, the experts are able to date the age of the eruption.

With the assistance of systematic radiocarbon technology and Swiss chronology, the team of experts had the ability to measure the precise dating that has been long uncertain. The revised measurement of the time span thousands of years ago will significantly change our scientific perspective of the European climates, which can also contribute to our knowledge on the global-scale dynamics in climate. The Laacher See eruption is a mark of the northern hemisphere's paleoenvironmental archives, and the recent findings will bring experts closer to filling in the gap in geological uncertainties in Earth's climate history, reports Science Codex.