Pliny the Younger advances geochronology.

Authors

Paul R Renne, William S Cassata, Caroline E J Hasler, Jack N Carter, Anthony J Fuentes, Andrew J Tholt, Andrea Marzoli

Published in

Science advances. Volume 12. Issue 39. Pages eaeg2624. Sep 25, 2026. Epub Sep 25, 2026.

Abstract

The eruption of Vesuvius volcano witnessed by Pliny the Younger in 79 CE is dated by the argon-40/argon-39 (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar) method to 1938 ± 13 years (SD) before measurement in 2025 CE. Achievement of 0.7% precision and 0.4% accuracy at such a young age marks a precedent for ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating and signals improved applicability of the method for constraining magma systems' evolution, including volcanic hazard assessment. Improvements in mass spectrometry, neutron irradiation strategy, and determination of interfering neutron-induced isotopes enable this result. The data serve to determine the decay constant for the radioactive decay of potassium-40 (⁴⁰K) to ⁴⁰Ar that is twice as precise as the value determined by disintegration counting, thus improving the accuracy of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating throughout geologic time, and serves as an important datum for intercalibrating ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar with other dating methods.

PMID:
42789716
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 26 Sep 2026.

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