The source of one of the largest volcanic eruptions during the last 200 years had long remained a mystery, despite the fact it triggered multiple deadly famines and lowered worldwide temperatures. That was, until now. A team of scientists has just discovered the source of the highly explosive 1831 CE mystery eruption, at an understudied remote volcano. This video will discuss these findings, and discuss some criticism I have of the some of the data presented.
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Sources/Citations:
[1] W. Hutchison, P. Sugden, A. Burke, P. Abbott, V.V.Ponomareva, O. Dirksen, M.V. Portnyagin, B.MacInnes, J. Bourgeois, B. Fitzhugh, M. Verkerk, T.J. Aubry, S.L. Engwell, A. Svensson, N.J.Chellman, J.R. McConnell, S. Davies, M. Sigl, G.Plunkett, The 1831 CE mystery eruption identified as Zavaritskii caldera, Simushir Island (Kurils), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (1) e2416699122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2416699122 (2025).
[2] Akulichev, V. & Astakhov, A. & Malakhov, M. & Aksentov, Kirill & Karabtsov, A. & Mar’yash, A. & Alatortcev, Alexander. (2016). The first discovery of cryptotephra of the catastrophic eruptions of the Baitoushan volcano in the tenth century A.D. in the shelf deposits of the Sea of Japan. Doklady Earth Sciences. 469. 887-891. 10.1134/S1028334X16080201.
[3] Helama, S., Arppe, L., Uusitalo, J. et al. Volcanic dust veils from sixth century tree-ring isotopes linked to reduced irradiance, primary production and human health. Sci Rep 8, 1339 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19760-w, CC BY 4.0.
[4] Toohey, M. and Sigl, M.: Volcanic stratospheric sulfur injections and aerosol optical depth from 500 BCE to 1900 CE, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 809–831, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-809-2017, 2017. CC BY 3.0.
[5] VEIs, dates/years, composition, tephra layer name, DRE estimates, and bulk tephra volume estimates for volcanic eruptions shown in this video which were assigned a VEI 4 or larger (and are not the 1831 eruption of the Zavaritzki Caldera) are sourced from the LaMEVE database (British Geological Survey © UKRI), https://www2.bgs.ac.uk/vogripa/view/controller.cfc?method=lameve, Used with Permission
[6] Source of Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) methodology and criteria: Newhall, C. G., and Self, S. (1982), The volcanic explosivity index (VEI) an estimate of explosive magnitude for historical volcanism, J. Geophys. Res., 87(C2), 1231–1238, doi:10.1029/JC087iC02p01231. Accessed / Read by Youtube.com/GeologyHub on Oct 5th, 2022.
0:00 Mystery Eruption
1:42 1831 Eruption Effects
2:01 Zavaritski Caldera
2:44 Eruption Size
3:21 Criticism/Analysis of Data
4:37 Middle Caldera
