{"id":865465,"date":"2026-09-30T04:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T04:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865465\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T04:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T04:14:08","slug":"scientists-dated-the-catastrophic-pompeii-eruption-using-only-rocks-heres-how-close-they-got","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865465\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Dated the Catastrophic Pompeii Eruption Using Only Rocks. Here’s How Close They Got"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cArgon-argon dating\u201d is a common technique scientists use to reveal when a geological event, such as a volcanic eruption, took place. The problem is that it\u2019s difficult to apply to recent occurrences. To address this issue, a team of researchers looked to an ancient Roman writer for help.<\/p>\n

In a study<\/a> published Friday in Science Advances, scientists used argon-argon dating to date pumice samples from Mount Vesuvius\u2019 eruption. They compared this age with the historical date\u2014August 24th, 79 CE, according to Pliny the Younger<\/a>, who witnessed the tragedy from a distance\u2014which enabled them to fine-tune the calibration of the argon-argon technique. Their success in applying the argon-argon dating method to a relatively recent geological event opens the door to pinning down other recent volcanic eruptions, with implications for estimating future trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to see how precisely and accurately we could date something that\u2019s very recent,\u201d Paul Renne<\/a>, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Berkeley Geochronology Center, told Gizmodo<\/a>. \u201cSo part of this study was just to see if we could duplicate the historic age for the eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii.\u201d In geochronology, 79 CE is \u201clike yesterday,\u201d Renne explains.<\/p>\n

Fine-tuning argon-argon dating <\/p>\n

Not everyone agrees<\/a> with Pliny\u2019s date for Vesuvius\u2019 eruption, however. For example, some historians theorize that a coin found at Pompeii could only have been produced in September of that year, meaning that the tragedy must have occurred later in the fall. Through comparison with other contemporary Roman coins, however, Caroline Hasler, another researcher at the Berkeley Geochronology Center and co-author of the study, determined that the coin was likely made before September. That, along with other research, reassured the team that August 24, 79 CE, was a reliable reference point.<\/p>\n

Next came the argon-argon dating. Researchers know that the isotope (or version of an element) potassium-40 in minerals naturally transforms via radioactivity into the isotope argon-40 at a particular rate. In extremely hot magma chambers, the argon escapes these mineral crystals in the form of gas. But once the volcano erupts and the minerals are ejected and start to cool, the argon is trapped within the mineral and begins to accumulate. As such, researchers can use the accumulation of argon-40 to figure out when the eruption took place. That\u2019s why it\u2019s easier to date more ancient eruptions\u2014there\u2019s more argon accumulation to measure.<\/p>\n

\"Labshot\"Paul Renne and colleagues at the Berkeley Geochronology Center. \u00a9 Paul Renne\/Berkeley Geochronology Center and UC Berkeley <\/p>\n

With Pliny the Younger\u2019s date as a benchmark and eight samples of volcanic material from Vesuvius, the team was able to finetune the argon-argon dating technique to estimate that the volcano had erupted in 87 CE, plus or minus 13 years. In other words, the newly calibrated dating method can be used to date something as \u201crecent\u201d as the destruction of Pompeii \u201cto within a decade, which is pretty good,\u201d Renne highlighted. Their achievement also enabled the team to calculate more precisely the rate at which potassium-40 decays into argon-40.<\/p>\n

Why dates are important <\/p>\n

Reliable dating techniques are particularly important for scientists investigating the consequences of very old geological events. When searching for a link between two events\u2014such as a volcanic eruption and a mass animal extinction\u2014an exact chronological alignment is often the most direct evidence they can hope for.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, by shedding light on the eruptive history of a volcano, scientists can better predict future ones and thus mitigate risks to surrounding populations. It can also help solve another geochronological issue. The field\u2019s two gold-standard dating techniques are argon-argon dating and another similar method that looks at the transformation of uranium to lead. These two \u201crock clocks,\u201d however, don\u2019t yield the same age for the same event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s close, but we can do better,\u201d Renne said. \u201cWe\u2019ve intercalibrated those two systems pretty well, but there\u2019s always room for better, and this particular piece of evidence now could be put into that technique.\u201d Down the line, the study could even help align other dating methods, such as carbon-14 (used to date organic material). \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have all of your different clocks giving you the same answer,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cArgon-argon dating\u201d is a common technique scientists use to reveal when a geological event, such as a volcanic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[176218,176219,79,33293],"class_list":["post-865465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ancient-rome","tag-pompeii","tag-science","tag-volcanoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}