2026-09-25 カリフォルニア大学バークレー校（UCB）
A depiction of the 1769 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius by Pierre-Jacques Volaire, a French painter who made a career in Italy as a souvenir artist. Courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of Art
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.berkeley.edu/2026/09/25/the-eruption-that-destroyed-pompeii-is-helping-scientists-date-earths-history/
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeg2624
- https://tiisys.com/blog/2022/09/13/post-111130/
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aav1446
小プリニウスが地質年代学を発展させた Pliny the Younger advances geochronology
Paul R. Renne, William S. Cassata, Caroline E. J. Hasler, Jack N. Carter, […] , and Andrea Marzoli
Science Advances Published:25 Sep 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeg2624
Abstract
The eruption of Vesuvius volcano witnessed by Pliny the Younger in 79 CE is dated by the argon-40/argon-39 (40Ar/39Ar) method to 1938 ± 13 years (SD) before measurement in 2025 CE. Achievement of 0.7% precision and 0.4% accuracy at such a young age marks a precedent for 40Ar/39Ar dating and signals improved applicability of the method for constraining magma systems’ evolution, including volcanic hazard assessment. Improvements in mass spectrometry, neutron irradiation strategy, and determination of interfering neutron-induced isotopes enable this result. The data serve to determine the decay constant for the radioactive decay of potassium-40 (40K) to 40Ar that is twice as precise as the value determined by disintegration counting, thus improving the accuracy of 40Ar/39Ar dating throughout geologic time, and serves as an important datum for intercalibrating 40Ar/39Ar with other dating methods.
デカン高原の火山活動の噴火頻度と白亜紀-古第三紀境界との関係 The eruptive tempo of Deccan volcanism in relation to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary
Courtney J. Sprain, Paul R. Renne, Loÿc Vanderkluysen, Kanchan Pande, […] , and Tushar Mittal
Science Published:22 Feb 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav1446
Abstract
Late Cretaceous records of environmental change suggest that Deccan Traps (DT) volcanism contributed to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB) ecosystem crisis. However, testing this hypothesis requires identification of the KPB in the DT. We constrain the location of the KPB with high-precision argon-40/argon-39 data to be coincident with changes in the magmatic plumbing system. We also found that the DT did not erupt in three discrete large pulses and that >90% of DT volume erupted in <1 million years, with ~75% emplaced post-KPB. Late Cretaceous records of climate change coincide temporally with the eruption of the smallest DT phases, suggesting that either the release of climate-modifying gases is not directly related to eruptive volume or DT volcanism was not the source of Late Cretaceous climate change.
