Towards a dendrochronologically refined date of the Laacher See eruption around 13,000 years ago

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106128

Quaternary Science Reviews

Volume 229, 1 February 2020, 106128

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106128 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
Previous age estimates of the Laacher See Eruptions (LSE) around 12,900 years are still diverging and imprecise.
•
The combination of dendrochronology, wood anatomy, and ¹⁴C measurements holds the potential to establish a precise LSE date.
•
An absolute calendric date of the LSE would improve the synchronization of European Late Glacial to Holocene archives.

Abstract

The precise date of the Laacher See eruption (LSE), central Europe’s largest Late Pleistocene volcanic event that occurred around 13,000 years ago, is still unknown. Here, we outline the potential of combined high-resolution dendrochronological, wood anatomical and radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurements, to refine the age of this major Plinian eruption. Based on excavated, subfossil trees that were killed during the explosive LSE and buried under its pyroclastic deposits, we describe how a firm date of the eruption might be achieved, and how the resulting temporal precision would further advance our understanding of the environmental and societal impacts of this event. Moreover, we discuss the relevance of an accurate LSE date for improving the synchronization of European terrestrial and lacustrine Late Glacial to Holocene archives.

Section snippets

Background and motivation

Located in the East Eifel region in Germany, around 40 km southeast of Bonn, the LSE occurred at approximately 12,900 BP (van den Bogaard, 1995; Schmincke, 2007, 2014), roughly 200 years before the end of the Late Glacial Allerød interstadial and the subsequent onset of the Younger Dryas cold spell (Baales et al., 2002; Lane et al., 2015). With a dense magma volume of around 6.3 km³ and more than 20 km³ of fall and flow deposits (collectively called Laacher See Tephra: LST; Schmincke, 2007),

Dendrochronological dating

The combined analysis of high-precision tree-ring width measurements, wood anatomical traits and ¹⁴C values from individual rings of trees that were killed during volcanic eruptions and buried by their deposits can provide eruption dates with annual and even sub-annual resolution (Büntgen et al., 2017; Oppenheimer et al., 2017). A dendrochronological re-assessment of the age of the LSE will further benefit from recent advancements in ¹⁴C measurement techniques (Sookdeo et al., 2019), the

Relevance and outlook

In order to provide a refined date of the LSE, the herein proposed interdisciplinary approach should combine innovative techniques of dendrochronology, wood anatomy, paleoclimatology, paleoecology and volcanology (Büntgen, 2019). In addition to the valuable information that originates from the relative stratigraphy of the LST that is used as a major Late Pleistocene tephra isochron across Europe, determination of the exact year of the eruption would further improve the quality of any attempt at

Acknowledgements

This work is the outcome of an interdisciplinary meeting at MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, Neuwied, Germany (7–8^th January 2019). We thank A. Land, S. Remmele, and MONREPOS for providing sample material to this project. Supported by the WSL-internal project “LSD”.

References (53)

M. Baales et al.
Impact of the Late Glacial Eruption of the Laacher See Volcano, Central Rhineland, Germany
Quat. Res.
(2002)
S. Blockley et al.
Improved age modelling approaches as exemplified by the revised chronology for the Central European varved lake Soppensee
Quat. Sci. Rev.
(2008)
C. Bronk Ramsey et al.
Improved age estimates for key Late Quaternary European tephra horizons in the RESET lattice
Quat. Sci. Rev.
(2015)
A. Brauer et al.
High resolution sediment and vegetation responses to Younger Dryas climate change in varved lake sediments from Meerfelder Maar, Germany
Quat. Sci. Rev.
(1999)
U. Büntgen
Re-thinking the boundaries of dendrochronology
Dendrochronologia
(2019)
S. Engels et al.
High-resolution palynological evidence for vegetation response to the Laacher See eruption from the varved record of Meerfelder Maar (Germany) and other central European records
Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol.
(2015)
M. Friedrich et al.
Paleo-environment and radiocarbon calibration as derived from Lateglacial/Early Holocene tree-ring chronologies
Quat. Int.
(1999)
C.S. Lane et al.
Tephrochronology and absolute centennial scale synchronisation of European and Greenland records for the last glacial to interglacial transition: a case study of Soppensee and NGRIP
Quat. Int.
(2011)
C.S. Lane et al.
The Late Quaternary tephrostratigraphy of annually laminated sediments from Meerfelder Maar, Germany
Quat. Sci. Rev.
(2015)
I. Neugebauer et al.
A Younger Dryas varve chronology from the Rehwiese palaeolake record in NE-Germany
Quat. Sci. Rev.
(2012)

C. Oppenheimer et al.

Multi-proxy dating the ‘Millennium Eruption’ of Changbaishan to late 946 CE

Quat. Sci. Rev.

(2017)

F. Reinig et al.

New tree-ring evidence for the Late Glacial period from the northern pre-Alps in eastern Switzerland

Quat. Sci. Rev.

(2018)

F. Reinig et al.

Introducing anatomical techniques to subfossil wood

Dendrochronologia

(2018)

F. Riede

The Laacher See-eruption (12,920 BP) and material culture change at the end of the Allerød in northern Europe

J. Archaeol. Sci.

(2008)

F. Riede et al.

A Laacher See-eruption supplement to Tephrabase: investigating distal tephra fallout dynamics

Quat. Int.

(2011)

H.-U. Schmincke et al.

Evolution and environmental impacts of the eruption of Laacher See Volcano (Germany) 12,900 a BP

Quat. Int.

(1999)

P. van den Bogaard

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of sanidine phenocrysts from Laacher See Tephra (12,900 yr BP): chronostratigraphic and petrological significance

Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

(1995)

U.J. Van Raden et al.

High-resolution late-glacial chronology for the Gerzensee lake record (Switzerland): δ¹⁸O correlation between a Gerzensee-stack and NGRIP

Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol.

(2013)

S. Wulf et al.

Tracing the Laacher See Tephra in the varved sediment record of the Trzechowskie palaeolake in central northern Poland

Quat. Sci. Rev.

(2013)

M. Baales et al.

Verkohlte Bäume im Trass der Laacher See-Tephra bei Kruft (Neuwieder Becken): ein Beitrag zur Datierung des Laacher See-Ereignisses und zur Vegetation der Allerød-Zeit am Mittelrhein

Archaol. Korresp.

(1998)

J.U. Baldini et al.

Evaluating the link between the sulfur-rich Laacher See volcanic eruption and the Younger Dryas climate anomaly

Clim. Past

(2018)

A. Brauer et al.

An abrupt wind shift in western Europe at the onset of the Younger Dryas cold period

Nat. Geosci.

(2008)

U. Büntgen et al.

Multi-proxy dating of Iceland’s major pre-settlement Katla eruption to 822–823 CE

Geology

(2017)

A.E. Carlson

What caused the Younger Dryas cold event?

Geology

(2010)

M.O. Chevrel et al.

Investigating physical and thermal interactions between lava and trees: the case of Kilauea’s July 1974 flow

Bull. Volcanol.

(2019)

W. Finsinger et al.

Temporal patterns in lacustrine stable isotopes as evidence for climate change during the late glacial in the Southern European Alps

J. Paleolimnol.

(2008)

Cited by (7)

Re-assessment of tree-ring radiocarbon age series for the “Millennium Eruption” of Changbaishan / Paektu volcano in relation to the precise date of 946 CE
2023, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research
Volcanic eruptions that are not historically attested are often dated by “wiggle matching” sequential radiocarbon measurements of the rings of trees killed by the eruption against a calibration curve. Although evidence for contamination by exposure to ¹⁴C-free geogenic carbon is well documented, it is generally assumed that the radiocarbon ages are unbiased by such “old” carbon. The ‘Millennium Eruption’ of Changbaishan / Paektu volcano (China/DPR Korea) provides an opportunity to test this assumption, since several age estimates were made before the acceptance of a precise eruption year of 946 CE. Accordingly, we develop a methodology that enables testing of assumptions and evaluation of discrepancies between reported wiggle match series. We then use it to correct for contamination levels of up to 4.5% old carbon to eight wiggle match date series for the Millennium Eruption. Without the need to discard ring ages, we find agreement indices as high as, or higher than, those for the published dates. Five of the eight series yielded high-agreement-index eruption dates closer to 946 CE than the published dates. None of the five yielded a best result without recognising some degree of contamination. Differences between the eruption dates reveal a weak association with the direction of the sampled tree from the caldera, but no relationship with distance. Our results suggest that old carbon contamination can lead to over-estimation of eruption ages by years, decades, or more. In addition, our results show that anomalously younger ages can also be a problem in radiocarbon series and these cannot be easily overcome at present by this methodology.
The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis: Review of the impact evidence
2021, Earth-Science Reviews
Citation Excerpt :
However, more recent work (Kletetschka et al., 2018) shows this is clearly not true at a location close to the Laacher See eruption (see Fig. 5), and the chemical signatures in the GISP2 ice core of the YD event and volcanic eruptions are also clearly separated (Petaev et al., 2013a). In any case, the range of the Laacher See tephra is limited mainly to Central Europe (Reinig et al., 2020). Subsequently, abundances of magnetic microspherules at the Younger Dryas boundary were found at several sites in Central and South America, including Patagonia, southern Chile, thus extending the range and mass of the presumed impact ejecta (Pino et al., 2019).
Firestone et al., 2007, PNAS 104(41): 16,016–16,021, proposed that a major cosmic impact, circa 10,835 cal. BCE, triggered the Younger Dryas (YD) climate shift along with changes in human cultures and megafaunal extinctions. Fourteen years after this initial work the overwhelming consensus of research undertaken by many independent groups, reviewed here, suggests their claims of a major cosmic impact at this time should be accepted. Evidence is mainly in the form of geochemical signals at what is known as the YD boundary found across at least four continents, especially North America and Greenland, such as excess platinum, quench-melted materials, and nanodiamonds. Their other claims are not yet confirmed, but the scale of the event, including extensive wildfires, and its very close timing with the onset of dramatic YD cooling suggest they are plausible and should be researched further. Notably, arguments by a small cohort of researchers against their claims of a major impact are, in general, poorly constructed, and under close scrutiny most of their evidence can actually be interpreted as supporting the impact hypothesis.
Synchronous or Not? The Timing of the Younger Dryas and Greenland Stadial-1 Reviewed Using Tephrochronology
2022, Quaternary
Precise date for the Laacher See eruption synchronizes the Younger Dryas
2021, Nature
Syn- and post-eruptive gully formation near the Laacher See volcano
2021, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
Simulation of ash clouds after a Laacher See-type eruption
2021, Climate of the Past

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Towards a dendrochronologically refined date of the Laacher See eruption around 13,000 years ago

Highlights

Abstract

Section snippets

Background and motivation

Dendrochronological dating

Relevance and outlook

Acknowledgements

Quat. Res.

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Dendrochronologia

Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol.

Quat. Int.

Quat. Int.

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Dendrochronologia

J. Archaeol. Sci.

Quat. Int.

Quat. Int.

Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol.

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Verkohlte Bäume im Trass der Laacher See-Tephra bei Kruft (Neuwieder Becken): ein Beitrag zur Datierung des Laacher See-Ereignisses und zur Vegetation der Allerød-Zeit am Mittelrhein

Archaol. Korresp.

Evaluating the link between the sulfur-rich Laacher See volcanic eruption and the Younger Dryas climate anomaly

Clim. Past

An abrupt wind shift in western Europe at the onset of the Younger Dryas cold period

Nat. Geosci.

Multi-proxy dating of Iceland’s major pre-settlement Katla eruption to 822–823 CE

Geology

What caused the Younger Dryas cold event?

Geology

Investigating physical and thermal interactions between lava and trees: the case of Kilauea’s July 1974 flow

Bull. Volcanol.

Temporal patterns in lacustrine stable isotopes as evidence for climate change during the late glacial in the Southern European Alps

J. Paleolimnol.