[meteorite-list] Comet hit Britain in mid sixth, century, AD? - OT, only volcanism in this mail.

[Göran Axelsson]

Iceland have had some large volcanic events over it's history. The most 
devastating one since the colonisation was the Laki eruption in 1783 
which killed 20% of the population on Iceland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki

There are no archeological evidences that Iceland was colonised earlier 
than 874 AD. That date is from written records and supported by 
archeological finds.

I don't know if there have been any large scale eruptions before that 
date but it shouldn't be too hard to find out. The 1783 event affected 
the climate of the northern hemisphere under a couple of years and might 
have lowered the temperature with up to 1 degree C.
It isn't too hard to think that a large eruption could have affected the 
climate and put a mark in the growth rings. But that is only a 
speculation from my side without any data to back it up.

/Göran

tracy latimer wrote:
> If you're talking about catastrophic events during the Dark Ages, 
> wasn't there an episode where major outgassing from volcanoes 
> (fluorine and other nasty volcanic gases) in Iceland poisoned most of 
> the viable cropland there, and the effects were felt up to several 
> hundred miles away?  I vaguely recall a timeframe of around 500-600 
> (maybe 700?) a.d.  First the grass all died, crops were poisoned, the 
> cattle couldn't get enough to eat and eventually died, either from 
> starvation or poisoning, then it was the people's turn...
>
> Tracy Latimer
>
>
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