Evidence for magmatic carbon bias in ¹⁴C dating of the Taupo and other major eruptions.

ABSTRACT: Prehistoric timescales, volcanic hazard assessment, and understanding of volcanogenic climate events rely on accurate dating of prehistoric eruptions. Most late Quaternary eruptions are dated by ¹⁴C measurements on material from close to the volcano that may be contaminated by geologic-sourced infinite-age carbon. Here we show that ¹⁴C ages for the Taupo (New Zealand) First Millennium eruption are geographically arrayed, with oldest ages closer to the vent. The current eruption wiggle match date of 232 ± 5 years CE is amongst the oldest. We present evidence that the older, vent-proximal ¹⁴C ages were biased by magmatic CO₂ degassed from groundwater, and that the Taupo eruption occurred decades to two centuries after 232 CE. Our reinterpretation i

SUBMITTER: Holdaway RN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6173711 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature