Ice core source discovery adds to global record of volcanism, Phys.org reports

Phys.org published a University of Maine news release about a discovery by researchers that challenges the established volcanic source of particles found in an ice core from the South Pole. Using a method of extracting volcanic ash particles from ice core samples to measure their geochemical composition, Laura Hartman, a graduate student at the CCI, examined microscopic volcanic ash particles in ice core samples from Antarctica’s South Pole. She found several particles from a volcanic interval that in the last three decades was attributed to a volcanic eruption from the Kuwae volcanic center in Vanuatu and determined the composition was similar to volcanic products from the South American volcano Reclus, not Kuwae. “The discovery challenges the established volcanic source for one of the largest ice core sulfate signals from the last millennium,” said Andrei Kurbatov, associate professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences and Climate Change Institute. “The new source location will impact how climate models calculate atmospheric loading and ultimately will guide how climate models determine the impact of this volcanic event on the climate system.”