The magnitude and impact of the 431 CE Tierra Blanca Joven eruption of Ilopango, El Salvador
Vicki Smith, Antonio Costa, Gerardo J. Aguirre‐Díaz, Dario Pedrazzi, Andrea Scifo, Gill Plunkett, Mattieu Poret, Pierre‐Yves Tournigand, D. H. Miles, Michael Dee, Joseph R. McConnell, Iván Sunyé-Puchol, Pablo Dávila-Harris, Michael Sigl, Jonathan R. Pilcher, Nathan Chellman, Eduardo Gutiérrez
Abstract
of magma was dispersed from an eruption coignimbrite column that rose to ∼45 km by modeling the deposit thickness using state-of-the-art tephra dispersal methods. Sulfate records from an array of ice cores suggest stratospheric injection of 14 ± 2 Tg S associated with the TBJ eruption, exceeding those of the historic eruption of Pinatubo in 1991. Based on these estimates it is likely that the TBJ eruption produced a cooling of around 0.5 °C for a few years after the eruption. The modeled dispersal and higher sulfate concentrations recorded in Antarctic ice cores imply that the cooling would have been more pronounced in the Southern Hemisphere. The new date confirms the eruption occurred within the Early Classic phase when Maya expanded across Central America.