Greenland ice core evidence of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption

Volcanic tephra are independent age horizons and can synchronize strata of various paleoclimate records in- cluding ice and sediment cores. The Holocene section of the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core is dated by multi-parameter annual layer counting, and contains peaks in acidity, SO 2− and microparticle concentrations at a depth of 4 429.1 to 429.3 m, which have not previously been definitively ascribed to a volcanic eruption. Here, we identify tephra par- ticles and determine that volcanic shards extracted from a depth of 429.3 m in the GRIP ice core are likely due to the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption. The chemical composition of the tephra particles is consistent with the K-phonolitic compo- sition of the Vesuvius juvenile ejecta and differs from the chemical composition of other major eruptions (≥VEI 4) between 50–100 AD.