Hatepe Eruption - Dating The Event

Dating The Event

The Taupo eruption was at one time dated to approximately 130 AD based on 14C from carbonized vegetation enclosed in the eruption products. However, the 22 selected samples used to obtain an average date of 1,819 ± 17 years BP (131) had much larger standard deviations than the average date itself. Most if not all geologists now accept that the tephra or pumice fall from the eruption was far greater than previously thought, approximately 150 km3 (36 cu mi) instead of 14 km3 (3.4 cu mi). This means the event would have been visible from China and Rome. It was therefore posited by Wilson et al. (and is now generally accepted) that the meteorological phenomena described by Fan Ye in China and by Herodian in Rome were due to this eruption, which therefore can be dated exactly to 186 AD. However, recent radiocarbon dating by R. Sparks has put the date at 233 AD ± 13 (95% confidence).

Humans had not permanently settled in New Zealand at the time, and would not for another thousand years, although some scholars have suggested that New Zealand was discovered not long before the eruption. The nearest humans at the time may have been those in Australia, more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) to the west.