Acid damage to vegetation following the Laki fissure eruption in 1783 — an historical review

https://doi.org/10.1016/0048-9697(94)90473-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Documentary evidence suggests that during the Laki fissure eruption, Iceland, in the summer of 1783, severe acid pollution of the atmosphere resulted in damage to crops and trees in eastern England and northern Germany; the acid pulses led to enhanced fish mortality in Scotland.

References (56)

  • J. Cullum Rev. Sir

    Of a remarkable frost on the 23rd of June, 1783

    Philosophical Trans. R. Soc., Abridged

    (1783)
  • P. Cunningham
  • T.D. Davies et al.

    Black acidic snow in the remote Scottish Highlands

    Nature

    (1984)
  • J.D. Devine et al.

    Estimates of sulfur and chlorine yeild to the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions and potential climatic effects

    J. Geophysical Res.

    (1984)
  • A.J. Dugmore

    Icelandic volcanic ash in Scotland

    Scottish Geographical Magazine

    (1989)
  • B. Fisher

    Acid rain — the long range transport of air pollutants

    Weather

    (1981)
  • P.D. Fowler

    Transfer to terrestrial surfaces

    Philosophical Trans. R. Soc., London

    (1984)
  • B. Franklin

    Meteorological imaginations and conjectures

    Mem. Lit. Philos. Soc., Manchester

    (1784)
  • C. Gagen et al.

    Influences of acid run-off episodes on survival and new sodium balance of brook trout (Salvalinus fontinalis) confined in a mountain stream

  • Sir A. Geikie
  • T. Giordiadis et al.

    Removal of sulphur dioxide and sulphates from the atmospheric surface layer during frost formation

    Water, Air and Soil Pollut.

    (1993)
  • J. Hunt
  • J.S. Jacobsen

    Effects of acidic aerosol, fog, mist and rain on crops and trees

    Philosophical Trans. R. Soc., London

    (1984)
  • J. King et al.
  • J.A. Kington

    July 1783: the warmest month in the Central England temperature series

    Climate Monitor

    (1980)
  • J.A. Kington

    The weather for the 1780s over Europe

    (1988)
  • J.W. Kirchner et al.

    Predicted response of stream chemistry to acid loading tested in Canadian catchments

    Nature

    (1992)
  • R.M. Koerner et al.

    Acid snow in the Canadian high arctic

    Nature

    (1982)
  • Cited by (43)

    • Radiocarbon dating distal tephra from the Early Bronze Age Avellino eruption (EU-5) in the coastal basins of southern Lazio (Italy): Uncertainties, results, and implications for dating distal tephra

      2021, Quaternary Geochronology
      Citation Excerpt :

      That the F-levels from earlier Vesuvian eruptions also led to serious human health problems was demonstrated by Petrone et al. (2011). To what extent this F may have affected the vegetation is less clear, since available studies on the impact of F (e.g. Grattan and Pyatt, 1994; Koblar et al., 2011; Kumar et al., 2017; Banerjee and Roychoudhury, 2019) point to diverse and species dependent impacts and results published cannot readily be applied to wetland ecosystems. Moreover, studies on the impact of tephra on wetland ecosystems rarely pay attention to the impact of F (e.g. Hotes et al., 2004; Ayris and Delmelle, 2012).

    • Holocene history of landscape instability in Iceland: Can we deconvolve the impacts of climate, volcanism and human activity?

      2020, Quaternary Science Reviews
      Citation Excerpt :

      Soil remobilization has through the years affected much of Iceland’s ecosystem and has been a determining factor in soil formation and fertility (e.g. Gísladóttir, 2001). Although vascular vegetation cover plays an important role in preventing soil mobilization (Arnalds, 2013; Cutler et al., 2016), plants can be killed and efficiently removed following volcanic ash deposition as a result of suffocation, impaired photosynthesis, abrasion and/or acidification (e.g. Mack, 1981; Grattan and Pyatt, 1994; Grattan and Gilbertson, 2000). In recent millennia, persistent and severe soil erosion has been linked to anthropogenic activities after the settlement of Iceland (∼870 CE).

    • The impact of persistent volcanic degassing on vegetation: A case study at Turrialba volcano, Costa Rica

      2017, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
    • The impact and significance of tephra deposition on a Holocene forest environment in the North Cascades, Washington, USA

      2016, Quaternary Science Reviews
      Citation Excerpt :

      Meteorological influences on plume dynamics can limit tephra dispersal. For example, during dry, calm anti-cyclonic weather there will be an increase in particle concentration in the atmosphere (Grattan and Pyatt, 1994) and this will produce blanket-like deposition of tephra, while precipitation bearing systems produce a sporadic and discontinuous pattern (Boygle, 1999). In addition, clustering in the atmosphere can prevent uniform deposition of tephra over a wide area (Lawson et al., 2012).

    • Influence of volcanic gases on the epidermis of Pinus halepensis Mill. in Campi Flegrei, Southern Italy: A possible tool for detecting volcanism in present and past floras

      2012, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, plant damage is related to gas concentration (Delmelle, 2003), gas persistence (Grattan et al., 1998) in the atmosphere, identity of the gases (Thomas, 1951) and plant resilience (Abe and Hasegawa, 2008). Under severe pollution conditions, the direct phytotoxic effects of gaseous pollutants as well as long-term effects of acid washout (Grattan and Pyat, 1994) can even be considered as potential environmental mutagens disturbing plant growth and community structure (Visscher et al., 1996). As a matter of fact, as Visscher et al. (2004) pointed out, variation in structure and composition of leaf cuticles is a potential source of botanical evidence of mutational effects of environmental stress factors.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text