946 eruption of Paektu Mountain

946 eruption of Paektu Mountain
VolcanoPaektu Mountain
Datelate 946 CE
TypePlinian
LocationJilin, China and Ryanggang Province, North Korea
VEI6[1]
ImpactAt least short-term regional climate changes

The 946 eruption of Paektu Mountain, a stratovolcano on the border of North Korea and China also known as Changbaishan,[1] occurred in late 946 CE.[2][3] This event is known as the Millennium Eruption or Tianchi eruption.[4] It is one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history; classified at least a VEI 6.[5][6][7]

The eruption ejected about 13–47 cubic kilometres[5][6][7] of magma (dense rock equivalent) and formed a caldera, which now contains a lake (Heaven Lake). The eruption had two phases that each included a Plinian fallout and a pyroclastic flow and erupted magmas that were different in composition.[8] An average of 5 cm (2.0 in) of Plinian ashfall and co–ignimbrite ashfall covered about 1,500,000 km2 (580,000 sq mi) of the Sea of Japan and northern Japan.[9][10] This ash layer has been named the "Baegdusan-Tomakomai ash" (B-Tm)[9] and is valuable marker horizon for correlating regional sedimentary archives in and around the Sea of Japan. The Millennium Eruption was one of the largest and most powerful eruptions in the last 5,000 years, along with the Minoan eruption of Thera, the Hatepe eruption of Lake Taupō (around 230 CE), the 431 CE eruption of Lake Ilopango, the 1257 eruption of Mount Samalas near Mount Rinjani, and the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora.

  1. ^ a b "Changbaishan". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Jin, Yuting; Li, Junxia; Zhao, Ying; Xu, Chenxi; Chen, Zhenju; Li, Feng; Chen, Jiayang; Zhang, Jingyuan; Hou, Sen; Xin, Ziang (1 June 2022). "Cambial evidence of the "Millennium Eruption" of Changbaishan volcano (c. 946 CE) and century-scale climatic change in the Middle Ages". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 595. Bibcode:2022PPP...59510971J. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.110971. S2CID 247963699. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  4. ^ Wei, Haiquan; Wang, Yu; Jin, Jinyu; Gao, Ling; Yun, Sung-Hyo; Jin, Bolu (June 2007). "Timescale and evolution of the intracontinental Tianchi volcanic shield and ignimbrite-forming eruption, Changbaishan, Northeast China". Lithos. 96 (1–2): 315–324. Bibcode:2007Litho..96..315W. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2006.10.004. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b 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 (23 October 2021). "The Millennium Eruption of Changbaishan Tianchi Volcano is VEI 6, not 7". Bulletin of Volcanology. 83 (11): 74. Bibcode:2021BVol...83...74Y. doi:10.1007/s00445-021-01487-8. hdl:10356/160061. ISSN 1432-0819. S2CID 239461051. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  7. ^ a b Costa, Antonio; Mingari, Leonardo; Smith, Victoria C.; Macedonio, Giovanni; McLean, Danielle; Folch, Arnau; Lee, Jeonghyun; Yun, Sung-Hyo (2 January 2024). "Eruption plumes extended more than 30 km in altitude in both phases of the Millennium eruption of Paektu (Changbaishan) volcano". Communications Earth & Environment. 5 (1): 6. Bibcode:2024ComEE...5....6C. doi:10.1038/s43247-023-01162-0.
  8. ^ Pan, Bo; de Silva, Shanaka L.; Xu, Jiandong; Chen, Zhengquan; Miggins, Daniel P.; Wei, Haiquan (1 September 2017). "The VEI-7 Millennium eruption, Changbaishan-Tianchi volcano, China/DPRK: New field, petrological, and chemical constraints on stratigraphy, volcanology, and magma dynamics". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 343: 45–59. Bibcode:2017JVGR..343...45P. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2017.05.029. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  9. ^ a b Machida, H.; Arai, F. (2003). Atlas of Tephra in and around Japan. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
  10. ^ McLean, Danielle; Albert, Paul G.; Nakagawa, Takeshi; Staff, Richard A.; Suzuki, Takehiko; Smith, Victoria C. (15 October 2016). "Identification of the Changbaishan 'Millennium' (B-Tm) eruption deposit in the Lake Suigetsu (SG06) sedimentary archive, Japan: Synchronisation of hemispheric-wide palaeoclimate archives". Quaternary Science Reviews. 150: 301–307. Bibcode:2016QSRv..150..301M. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.08.022. Retrieved 26 April 2024.