The 1991 explosive Hudson volcanic eruption as a geochronological marker for the Northern Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract

It is estimated that the explosive Hudson volcano eruption in Southern Chile injected approximately 2.7 km3 of basalt and trachyandesite tephra into the troposphere between August 8-15, 1991. The Hudson signal has been detected in Antarctica at the eastern sector and in South Pole snow. In this work, we track the Hudson volcanic plume using a dispersion model, remote sensing, and a re-analysis of a high-resolution ice core analysis from the Detroit Plateau in the Antarctic Peninsula and sedimentary records from shallow lakes from King George Island (KGI). The Hudson eruption imprint in these records is confirmed by using a weekly resolved aerosol concentration database from KGI demonstrating that the regional impact of Hudson eruption predominates over the Mount Pinatubo/Phillippines volcanic signal, dated from June 1991, in terms of particulate matter depositions. The aerosol elemental composition of Ca, Fe, Ti, Si, Al, Zn, and Pb increases from 2 to 3 orders of magnitude in background level during the days following the eruption of the Hudson volcano.