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A research team is studying unusual rocks in Iceland to better understand the late ancient small glacial period.
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The team believes that fast climatic cooling contributes to the mass migration of people in Europe.
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The information comes from small crystals with zircon found inside the rocks.
Unusual small stones on a beach in Iceland can help tell the history of the death of the Roman Empire.
A team of researchers from three different continents studied local cobblestone – tours of the size of a human fist – and the mineral clues embedded in them to understand a better dramatic climate event of the sixth century AD.
“As for the fall of the Roman Empire, this climate change may be the straw that violates the back of the camel,” said Tom Greek, a professor of land science at the University of Southampton.
Historians have long discussed the role of rapid cooling as part of the fall of the Roman Empire, but a new rock -based study strengthens the case that a short (but intense) cooling period may have prevented the already decreasing empire and incite the mass migration of the population that has changed Europe. The team behind this study publishes a study describing their discoveries in the magazine GeologyS
The time of what is known as the late ancient small glacial period has always intrigued historians, studying the links between climate and European history. Three massive volcanic eruptions around 540 AD. They probably triggered the short but impactful climate displacement, as volcanic ash blocks sunlight and lowered the global temperature for about 200 to 300 years.
So where do these rocks enter? Well, scientists believe that the rocks were transferred to Iceland through icebergs formed during the spell event, and can now help show the chaotic nature of the climate during this period of history.
“We knew that these rocks looked somehow out of place, because the types of rocks are unlike anything found today in Iceland,” says Christopher Spencer, a leading author of the study.
The team crushed the rocks in question to analyze the age and composition of the zircon crystals locked inside, which helped to determine their source.
“Zircons are essentially capsules in time that retain vital information, including when they crystallize, as well as their compositional characteristics,” Spencer said. “The combination of age and chemical composition allows us to expose the fingerprints that currently expose regions to the earth’s surface, similar to being made in forensics.”
The team connects debris to specific regions in Greenland. “This is the first direct proof of icebergs carrying large Greenland cobbles in Iceland,” Spencer said.
“On the one hand, you are surprised that you see everything but a basalt in Iceland, but when you look for the first time, you immediately suspect that they have arrived from Iceberg from Greenland,” said Ross Mitchell, co -author of the study.
“The fact that the rocks come from almost all geological regions of Greenland provides evidence of their glacial origin,” Grunnon said. “As the glaciers move, they erode the landscape, tearing rocks from different areas and carrying them together, creating a chaotic and diverse mixture – some of which end in the ice.”
The team has determined that the rocks arranged by ice may have been dropped in Iceland in the seventh century, coinciding with a major climate change known as the Bond 1 event. “This time coincides with a certain basic episode of the ice arrangement, where huge pieces of ice are off the glaciers, and ultimate
“Climate-controlled iceberg activity was maybe one of the many cascading effects of rapid cooling,” says Spencer, along with the mass migration of a person that spread the population of Europe throughout the continent, helping to lose weight-and eventually the Gasi-Roman Empire.
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