The use of stalagmite geochemistry to detect past volcanic eruptions and their environmental impacts

Abstract

Our knowledge of past volcanic eruptions and their climatic impact is still far from complete. Establishing a clear link between volcanism and anomalous tree ring growth is difficult (Pearson et al., 2005), and ice core chemical signals do not match the historical record of eruptions or do not allow recognition of distal eruptions (Zielinski, 2000; Oppenheimer, 2003). Evidence for a causal connection between past volcanism and climate anomalies relies on the robust correlation between climate proxies and chemical fingerprinting of past eruptions within the same well-dated archive. Stalagmite geochemistry has the potential for providing precisely dated and spatially well-distributed records of past volcanic eruptions and of their environmental impacts (Frisia et al., 2005).