Mortality in England during the 1783–4 Laki Craters eruption

1783/4 has been recognised as a mortality crisis year in the population history of England. This demographic incident coincides with the Laki Craters eruption, Iceland, which began in June 1783 and fumigated many parts of Europe with volcanic gases and particles. Many reports and proxy climate records implicate the volcanic cloud in meteorological anomalies, including notably hot 1783 summer conditions in England and a severe subsequent winter. We present here a detailed analysis of the geographical and temporal trends in English mortality data, and interpret them in the light of the climatological records and observations of the pollutant cloud. We show that there were two distinct crisis periods: in August-September 1783, and January-February 1784, which together accounted for ~20,000 extra deaths. In both cases, the East of England was the worst affected region. Possible causes for the two crisis periods are considered and we conclude that the timing and magnitude of the winter mortality peak can be explained by the severe cold of January 1784. The late summer mortality followed 1–2 months after the very hot July of 1783 and may also have been related to the weather, with the time lag reflecting the relatively slow spread of enteric disease or the contraction of malaria. However, it is hard to explain the entire late summer anomaly by these high temperature causes. We therefore consider that fine acid aerosol and/or gases in the volcanic haze may also have contributed to the unusual August-September mortality. Given that complex radiative and dynamical effects of the volcanic cloud are implicated in the climatic anomalies in 1783–4, it is likely that the Laki Craters eruption did play a role in the English mortality crises of the same period.Editorial responsibility: R. Cioni     

Volcanic air pollution and mortality in France 1783–1784

The impact that volcanic eruptions may have upon environments far from the volcanic source is conventionally assumed to depend on climatic modification by emitted gases. However, recent research has suggested that the damage caused by the direct impact of volcanic gases, mainly H₂SO₄, may be profound. This paper highlights the severity of this mechanism by reference to human sickness and death in France and contiguous with the eruption of the Laki fissure in Iceland in 1783. This work demonstrates the gains which may be made by interdisciplinary teams of researchers and illustrates the valuable knowledge that remains to be revealed by further research in the French historical record. To cite this article: J. Grattan et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Role of Syn-eruptive Cooling and Degassing on Textures of Lavas from the AD 1783-1784 Laki Eruption, South Iceland

The Laki eruption involved 10 fissure-opening episodes thatproduced 15·1 km³ of homogeneous quartz-tholeiite magma.This study focuses on the texture and chemistry of samples fromthe first five episodes, the most productive period of the eruption.The samples comprise pumiceous tephra clasts from early falloutdeposits and lava surface samples from fire-fountaining andcone-building activity. The fluid lava core was periodicallyexposed at the surface upon lobe breakout, and its characteristicsare preserved in glassy selvages from the lava surface. In allsamples, plagioclase is the dominant mineral phase, followedby clinopyroxene and then olivine. Samples contain <7 vol.% of euhedral phenocrysts (>100 µm) with primitivecores [An* = 100 x Ca/(Ca + Na) >70; Fo > 75; En* = 100x Mg/(Mg + Fe) >78] and more evolved rims, and >10 vol.% of skeletal, densely distributed groundmass crystals (<100µm), which are similar in composition to phenocryst rims(tephra: An*_58–67, Fo_72–78, En*_72–81; lava:An*_49–70, Fo_63–78, En_57–78). Tephra and lavahave distinct vesicularity (tephra: >40 vol. %; lava: <40vol. %), groundmass crystal content (tephra: <10 vol. %;lava: 20–30 vol. %), and matrix glass composition (tephra:5·4–5·6 wt % MgO; lava: 4·3–5·0wt % MgO). Whole-rock and matrix glass compositions define atrend consistent with liquid evolution during in situ crystallizationof groundmass phases. Plagioclase–glass and olivine–glassthermometers place the formation of phenocryst cores at 10 kmdepth in a melt with 1 wt % H₂O, at near-liquidus temperatures(1150°C). Phenocryst rims and groundmass crystals formedclose to the surface, at 10–40°C melt undercoolingand in an 10–20°C cooler drier magma (0–0·1wt % H₂O), causing an 10 mol % drop in An content in plagioclase.The shape, internal zoning and number density of groundmasscrystals indicate that they formed under supersaturated conditions.Based on this information, we propose that degassing duringascent had a major role in rapidly undercooling the melt, promptingintensive shallow groundmass crystallization that affected themagma and lava rheology. Petrological and textural differencesbetween tephra and lava reflect variations in the rates of magmaascent and the timing of surface quenching during each eruptiveepisode. That in turn affected the time available for crystallizationand subsequent re-equilibration of the melt to surface (degassed)conditions. During the explosive phases, the rates of magmaascent were high enough to inhibit crystallization, yieldingcrystal-poor tephra. In contrast, pervasive groundmass crystallizationoccurred in the lava, increasing its yield strength and causinga thick rubbly layer to form during flow emplacement. Lava selvagescollected across the flow-field have strikingly homogeneousglass compositions, demonstrating the high thermal efficiencyof fluid lava transport. Cooling is estimated as 0·3°C/km,showing that rubbly surfaced flows can be as thermally efficientas tube-fed phoehoe lavas. KEY WORDS: lava; crystallization; basalt; cooling rate; pressure; geobarometry; P–T conditions; plagioclase; degassing; Laki, Iceland     

Sulfur,chlorine, and fluorine degassing and atmospheric loading by the 1783–1784 AD Laki (Skaftár Fires) eruption in Iceland

 The 1783–1784 Laki tholeiitic basalt fissure eruption in Iceland was one of the greatest atmospheric pollution events of the past 250 years, with widespread effects in the northern hemisphere. The degassing history and volatile budget of this event are determined by measurements of pre-eruption and residual contents of sulfur, chlorine, and fluorine in the products of all phases of the eruption. In fissure eruptions such as Laki, degassing occurs in two stages: by explosive activity or lava fountaining at the vents, and from the lava as it flows away from the vents. Using the measured sulfur concentrations in glass inclusions in phenocrysts and in groundmass glasses of quenched eruption products, we calculate that the total accumulative atmospheric mass loading of sulfur dioxide was 122 Mt over a period of 8 months. This volatile release is sufficient to have generated ∼250 Mt of H₂SO₄ aerosols, an amount which agrees with an independent estimate of the Laki aerosol yield based on atmospheric turbidity measurements. Most of this volatile mass (∼60 wt.%) was released during the first 1.5 months of activity. The measured chlorine and fluorine concentrations in the samples indicate that the atmospheric loading of hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid was ∼7.0 and 15.0 Mt, respectively. Furthermore, ∼75% of the volatile mass dissolved by the Laki magma was released at the vents and carried by eruption columns to altitudes between 6 and 13 km. The high degree of degassing at the vents is attributed to development of a separated two-phase flow in the upper magma conduit, and implies that high-discharge basaltic eruptions such as Laki are able to loft huge quantities of gas to altitudes where the resulting aerosols can reside for months or even 1–2 years. The atmospheric volatile contribution due to subsequent degassing of the Laki lava flow is only 18 wt.% of the total dissolved in the magma, and these emissions were confined to the lowest regions of the troposphere and therefore important only over Iceland. This study indicates that determination of the amount of sulfur degassed from the Laki magma batch by measurements of sulfur in the volcanic products (the petrologic method) yields a result which is sufficient to account for the mass of aerosols estimated by other methods. Received: 30 May 1995 / Accepted: 19 April 1996