%0 Journal Article
%T Kuwae Caldera and Climate Confusion
%A K¨¢roly N¨¦meth
%A Shane J. Cronin and James D.L. White
%J The Open Geology Journal
%D 2007
%I Bentham Open
%R 10.2174/1874262900701010007]
%X A circular argument has been developed and further propagated through a series of studies that link a major climate-modifying eruption in the 15th century with Kuwae caldera in Vanuatu. Clear evidence in both N and S hemispheres suggests a major eruption with global atmospheric sulphur loading occurred in 1455-56. Concurrent 14C determinations from pyroclastic units and estimations of caldera size have been used to link this event to Kuwae. The 1964 defined and 1994 relocated ¡°Kuwae¡± caldera structures are both large, but our recent proximal mapping and earlier archaeological studies reveal no evidence for a high intensity (VEI 6) eruption of this age from either centre. Instead, the mid 1400¡¯s strata record localised pyroclastic flow deposition from multiple events, with little evidence for fall deposits. Depositional and clast character imply a largely or wholly submarine nature of the eruptions, indicating they were unlikely to have generated global climate impacts.
%U http://www.benthamscience.com/open/togeoj/articles/V001/7TOGEOJ.htm