Explosive eruption of El Chichón volcano (Mexico) disrupted 6 th century Maya civilization and contributed to global cooling

Kees Nooren (1) , Wim Z Hoek (1) , Hans van Der Plicht (2) , Michael Sigl (3) , Manfred J van Bergen (1) , Didier Galop (4) , Nuria Torrescano-Valle (5) , Gerald Islebe (5) , Annika Huizinga (1) , Tim Winkels (1) , Hans Middelkoop (1)

1 Faculty of Geosciences [Utrecht]
2 CIO - Centre for Isotope Research [Groningen]
3 Laboratory of Radio- and Environmental Chemistry [Villigen]
4 GEODE - Géographie de l'environnement
5 ECOSUR Unidad Chetumal

A remarkably long period of Northern Hemispheric cooling in the 6 th century CE, which disrupted human societies across large parts of the globe, has been attributed to volcanic forcing of climate. A major tropical eruption in 540 CE is thought to have played a key role, but there is no consensus about the source volcano to date. Here, we present evidence for El Chichón in southern Mexico as the most likely candidate, based on a refined reconstruction of the volcano's eruption history. A new chronological framework, derived from distal tephra deposits and the world's largest Holocene beach ridge plain along the Gulf of Mexico, enabled us to positively link a major explosive event to a prominent volcanic sulfur spike in bipolar ice core records, dated at 540 CE. We speculate that voluminous tephra fall from the eruption had a severe environmental impact on Maya societies, leading to temporary cultural decline, site abandonment, and migration within the core area of Maya civilization.

Mots clés: Mexico; El Chichon volcano; Maya societies

Domaines: Volcanologie; Milieux et Changements globaux

Kees Nooren, Wim Z Hoek, Hans van Der Plicht, Michael Sigl, Manfred J van Bergen, et al.. Explosive eruption of El Chichón volcano (Mexico) disrupted 6 th century Maya civilization and contributed to global cooling. Geology, 2016, 45 (2), pp.175-178. ⟨10.1130/G38739.1⟩. ⟨hal-01515945⟩