National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Photo: Ancient Global Dimming Linked to Volcanic Eruption


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Filipino farmers plow their rice fields as Mount Pinatubo spews ash following a major eruption in this photo taken July 8, 1991.

A year-long global cooling followed—but it was nothing compared to a massive cooling event in A.D. 536 that withered crops, sparked wars, and helped spread pestilence.

Now scientists have uncovered the first physical evidence that the ancient chill was due to a supervolcano eruption.

Photograph by Bullit Marquez/AP