Paine, Alice R; Baldini, James; Rex, Charlie L; Sigl, Michael; Pausata, Francesco S R; Brown, Richard J (2026): IntCal20 age calibrations for the largest (M ≥5.9) known explosive eruptions between 90°N and 20°S, since 11.7 ka [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.995594 (DOI registration in progress)
Always quote citation above when using data! You can download the citation in several formats below.
Published: 2026-06-23
Abstract:
Uncalibrated (14C), calibrated (IntCal20), and corresponding ice core-derived ages for the 51 largest known Holocene eruptions between 90 degrees north, and 20 degrees south. IntCal20 ages listed are those presented in Paine et al. Evidence for volcanic forcing of Holocene cold events - where individual 14C ages were recalibrated using the IntCal20 curve, and modelled within the OxCal online version 4.4 model (https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal.html). All ages are given in years before present, where "present" corresponds to 1950 CE.
Inclusion of an event in this list followed a two-stage compilation process; as part of the aforementioned study. The first stage involved extraction of eruption data from the Large Magnitude Explosive Eruption database (LaMEVE). Eruptions were immediately removed if they did not correspond to our pre-defined criteria for location (90 deg. N to 20 deg. S) and age (~11700–600 yr BP). A conservative magnitude filter of M≥5.9 was initially applied to our search, where M is quantified to one decimal point. Thus, eruptions listed as M=5.9 includes all eruptions with M values between 5.9 and 6.0. Eruptions with magnitudes listed as 5.9 were independently assessed in order to verify volumetric estimations, and their associated magnitude calculations. The second stage of data compilation involved a thorough intra-study comparison, where volumetric and chronological data was cross-checked with all literature currently available for each eruption individually: to determine the consistency in values. Where possible, magnitude estimates were also cross-checked across different modes of data acquisition (e.g., geological, geophysical, and model-based), to ensure that the values provided in the literature were consistent across different methods of estimation. From the 51 eruptions that remained in our compilation following stages (1) and (2), ages for 45 are derived from 14C (radiocarbon) dating.
Keyword(s):
Related to:
Paine, Alice R; Baldini, J U L; Rex, Charlie L; Sigl, Michael; Pausata, Francesco S R; Brown, Richard J (2026): Evidence for volcanic forcing of Holocene cold events. Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73492-4
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 34.959608 * Median Longitude: 165.985490 * South-bound Latitude: -16.250000 * West-bound Longitude: 14.430000 * North-bound Latitude: 64.420000 * East-bound Longitude: -17.330000
Event(s):
Katla_volcano * Latitude: 63.633000 * Longitude: -19.050000 * Location: Iceland * Method/Device: Multiple investigations (MULT)
Parameter(s):
| # | Name | Short Name | Unit | Principal Investigator | Method/Device | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Event label | Event | Paine, Alice R | |||
| 2 | Source volcano | Source volcano | Paine, Alice R | |||
| 3 | Location | Location | Paine, Alice R | |||
| 4 | LATITUDE | Latitude | Paine, Alice R | Geocode | ||
| 5 | LONGITUDE | Longitude | Paine, Alice R | Geocode | ||
| 6 | Unit | Unit | Paine, Alice R | |||
| 7 | Age, dated | Age dated | ka BP | Paine, Alice R | Age, uncalibrated | Uncalibrated Age (ka BP) |
| 8 | Age, dated, error | Age dated e | ± | Paine, Alice R | Age, uncalibrated | Uncalibrated Age Error (kyr) |
| 9 | Reference/source | Reference | Paine, Alice R | Uncalibrated Age Reference(s) | ||
| 10 | Uniform resource locator/link to source data file | URL source | Paine, Alice R | |||
| 11 | Age, dated | Age dated | ka BP | Paine, Alice R | Age, IntCal20 | IntCal20 Age (ka BP); Median |
| 12 | Age, dated, error | Age dated e | ± | Paine, Alice R | Age, IntCal20 | IntCal20 Age Error (kyr), Median |
| 13 | Ice age | Ice age | ka BP | Paine, Alice R | Ice Core Age (ka BP) | |
| 14 | Ice age, error | Ice age e | ± | Paine, Alice R | Ice Core Age Error (kyr) | |
| 15 | Reference/source | Reference | Paine, Alice R | Ice Core Age Reference(s) | ||
| 16 | Uniform resource locator/link to source data file | URL source | Paine, Alice R | |||
| 17 | Uniform resource locator/link to source data file | URL source | Paine, Alice R | |||
| 18 | Age, dated | Age dated | ka BP | Paine, Alice R | see comment | Final Eruption Age (ka BP) |
| 19 | Age, dated, error | Age dated e | ± | Paine, Alice R | Final Eruption Age Error (kyr) | |
| 20 | Method comment | Method comm | Paine, Alice R | Determined by… |
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)
Status:
Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)
Size:
610 data points