1600 Eruption of Huaynaputina in Peru
Thursday, 24. April 2008, 14:34:24
If you have been near a smoking volcano or solfatara you may have experienced the foul odour of rotten eggs, which comes from the hydrogen sulphide that occurs in volcanic gases.
Huaynaputina (Quechua: "New Volcano") is a stratovolcano located in a volcanic upland in southern Peru. The volcano has also been variously known as Omate, Quinistaquillas, Chiquimote, and Chequepuquina. The volcano does not have an identifiable mountain profile, but instead has the form of a large complex 2.5 km diameter explosion crater with a maximum elevation of 4,800 m above sea level and edifice height of no more than 500 m. On 19 February 1600 it exploded catastrophically, in the largest volcanic explosion in South America in historic times. The eruption caused substantial damage to the major cities of Arequipa and Moquengua. It blanketed nearby villages with glowing rock and ash, and killed some 1,500 people.
The eruption is known to have put a large amount of sulphur into the atmosphere, and tree ring studies show that 1601 was a cold year. Sulphur reacts with water in the air to form droplets of sulphuric acid, which cool the planet by reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface. But the droplets soon fall back to Earth, so the cooling effects last only a year or so. In the Northern Hemisphere 1601 was the coldest year in six centuries. In Greenland the sulphuric acid spike was larger than that from Krakatau (1883). Regional agricultural economies took 150 years to fully recover. According to a new study of contemporary records the eruption had a global impact on human society. In Russia 1601-1603 brought the worst famine in the country's history, leading to the overthrow of the reigning tsar. Records from Switzerland, Latvia and Estonia record exceptionally cold winters in 1600-1602. In France, the 1601 wine harvest was late, and wine production collapsed in Germany and colonial Peru. In China, peach trees bloomed late, and Lake Suwa in Japan had one of its earliest freezing dates in 500 years.
"The volcano that changed the world" - Ken Verosub and his coauthor, student Jake Lippman, explore the effects the 1600 Huaynaputina eruption had on the global agricultural economy. Their work appears in the April 11th issue of American Geophysical Union newsletter EOS.
* http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/uoc--1ec042308.php
* http://www.physorg.com/news128177951.html
* http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/the_climate_disruption_from_the_huaynaputina_eruption
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaynaputina
* http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080411/full/news.2008.747.html
* http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v393/n6684/abs/393455a0.html
Huaynaputina (Quechua: "New Volcano") is a stratovolcano located in a volcanic upland in southern Peru. The volcano has also been variously known as Omate, Quinistaquillas, Chiquimote, and Chequepuquina. The volcano does not have an identifiable mountain profile, but instead has the form of a large complex 2.5 km diameter explosion crater with a maximum elevation of 4,800 m above sea level and edifice height of no more than 500 m. On 19 February 1600 it exploded catastrophically, in the largest volcanic explosion in South America in historic times. The eruption caused substantial damage to the major cities of Arequipa and Moquengua. It blanketed nearby villages with glowing rock and ash, and killed some 1,500 people.The eruption is known to have put a large amount of sulphur into the atmosphere, and tree ring studies show that 1601 was a cold year. Sulphur reacts with water in the air to form droplets of sulphuric acid, which cool the planet by reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface. But the droplets soon fall back to Earth, so the cooling effects last only a year or so. In the Northern Hemisphere 1601 was the coldest year in six centuries. In Greenland the sulphuric acid spike was larger than that from Krakatau (1883). Regional agricultural economies took 150 years to fully recover. According to a new study of contemporary records the eruption had a global impact on human society. In Russia 1601-1603 brought the worst famine in the country's history, leading to the overthrow of the reigning tsar. Records from Switzerland, Latvia and Estonia record exceptionally cold winters in 1600-1602. In France, the 1601 wine harvest was late, and wine production collapsed in Germany and colonial Peru. In China, peach trees bloomed late, and Lake Suwa in Japan had one of its earliest freezing dates in 500 years.
"The volcano that changed the world" - Ken Verosub and his coauthor, student Jake Lippman, explore the effects the 1600 Huaynaputina eruption had on the global agricultural economy. Their work appears in the April 11th issue of American Geophysical Union newsletter EOS.
* http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/uoc--1ec042308.php
* http://www.physorg.com/news128177951.html
* http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/the_climate_disruption_from_the_huaynaputina_eruption
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaynaputina
* http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080411/full/news.2008.747.html
* http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v393/n6684/abs/393455a0.html
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