Millennium Eruption
Likely opening phase of Mount Paektu's Millennium Eruption
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗A temple chronicle in Nara, about a thousand kilometres away, described white ash falling like snow through the night.
Late 946, and a day inferred
Tree-ring radiocarbon evidence securely places the Millennium Eruption in late 946. The 2 November date is an inference: a Japanese report of ash on 3 November suggests a principal eruptive phase may have begun about a day earlier.
On the night of 3 November 946, a temple chronicle in Nara recorded white ash falling like snow. Nara lies roughly 1,000 kilometres from Paektu.
The dating paper explicitly cautions that the historical report is not certain proof of Paektu ash.
How the year was fixed
A subfossil larch killed and buried by the eruption preserved the 774 CE cosmogenic radiocarbon spike, which allowed its final growth ring to be fixed to 946.
Paektu produced Plinian fallout and pyroclastic-density currents during a large, compositionally zoned explosive eruption that helped form the present summit caldera.
Modeling puts each of the two principal fallout phases at an eruption column roughly 30 to 40 kilometres high, lasting about fifteen and twenty hours.
One date cannot hold it
Recent ice-core work indicates two main eruptive phases separated by roughly one or two months, so a single date cannot stand for the whole eruption.
The explosivity is unsettled. The Smithsonian database currently assigns VEI 6 and cites a reassessment rejecting VEI 7, while some recent papers retain a 6-or-7 range; estimated erupted magma volume is about 23 cubic kilometres, with a modelled range of 13 to 47.
Size did not translate into severe cooling: Greenland ice and Northern Hemisphere tree rings show weak sulfur deposition and no statistically significant summer cooling signal.
Sources
- Oppenheimer et al., Multi-proxy dating the Millennium Eruption of Changbaishan to late 946 CE
- Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program: Changbaishan
- Costa et al., Eruption plumes extended more than 30 km in altitude in both phases
- Phasing and climate forcing potential of the Millennium Eruption of Mt. Baekdu
Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited Date disputed
How this was checked
Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →
Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at ~0946-11-02.
What the sources leave uncertain
- Late 946 is secure, but 2 November is an inference from ash reported at Nara on 3 November and an estimated transport time of less than a day. The dating paper explicitly cautions that the historical report is not certain proof of Paektu ash.
- Recent ice-core work indicates two main eruptive phases separated by roughly one or two months. Consequently, a single date cannot represent the entire Millennium Eruption.
- The event's explosivity is still expressed as VEI 6 or 7 in recent literature. The Smithsonian database currently assigns VEI 6 and cites a dedicated reassessment rejecting VEI 7.
- Reports of thunder-like sounds in Korea in 946 and Japan in February 947 are compatible with eruption phenomena but cannot be conclusively attributed to Paektu.
Checked against
- Oppenheimer et al., “Multi-proxy dating the ‘Millennium Eruption’ of Changbaishan to late 946 CE”
- Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program: Changbaishan
- Costa et al., “Eruption plumes extended more than 30 km in altitude in both phases…”
- “Phasing and climate forcing potential of the Millennium Eruption of Mt. Baekdu”
- “A re-assessment of historical records pertaining to the activity of Mt. Baekdu”