The Millennium Eruption of Changbaishan Tianchi Volcano is VEI 6, not 7

The Millennium Eruption (AD 946–947) of Changbaishan Tianchi Volcano is one of the largest known eruptions in recorded history. With the help of previously published isopachs and distal ash thicknesses, we re-calculate the bulk volume of its distal eruptive product, the B-Tm ash, as 27–62 km 3 and t...

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Published inBulletin of volcanology Vol. 83; no. 11
Main Authors Yang, Qingyuan, Jenkins, Susanna F., Lerner, Geoffrey A., Li, Weiran, Suzuki, Takehiko, McLean, Danielle, Derkachev, A. N., Utkin, I. V., Wei, Haiquan, Xu, Jiandong, Pan, Bo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.11.2021
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Climate effects
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Geology
Geophysics/Geodesy
Mineralogy
Sedimentology
Short Scientific Communication
Volcanic eruptions
Volcanoes
Volcanology
Changbaishan tianchi volcano
Millennium eruption
VEI
Tephra volume
Isopachs
B-Tm ash
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Summary:The Millennium Eruption (AD 946–947) of Changbaishan Tianchi Volcano is one of the largest known eruptions in recorded history. With the help of previously published isopachs and distal ash thicknesses, we re-calculate the bulk volume of its distal eruptive product, the B-Tm ash, as 27–62 km 3 and the total eruption volume as 40–98 km 3 . The updated volume estimates are around half of those estimated by previous studies of this seminal eruption. Our work shows that the Millennium Eruption is a VEI-6 eruption, rather than VEI-7 as previously envisaged, and its magnitude is also lower than previously thought. This has implications for regional frequency-magnitude relationships and may also partially explain the limited regional, rather than global, climatic effects of the Millennium Eruption.
ISSN:0258-8900
1432-0819
DOI:10.1007/s00445-021-01487-8