1,200-year-old ash of Alaska Mount Bona-Churchill volcano found in Antrim bog
Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have been studying the ash layer in Sluggan Bog near Randalstown for more than 20 years, but have only just discovered that it drifted across the Atlantic Ocean from a volcano that exploded in Alaska back when the Vikings were pillaging Ireland. Read more
Mount Churchill is a volcano in the Saint Elias Mountains and the Wrangell Volcanic Field of eastern Alaska. Churchill and its higher neighbour Mount Bona about 3 km to the southwest are both large ice-covered stratovolcanoes, with Churchill being the fourth highest volcano in the United States and the seventh highest in North America. Read more Latitude: 1°25'10" N, Longitude: 141°42'53" W
DNA recovered from ancient caribou bones reveals a possible link between several small unique caribou herds and a massive volcanic eruption that blanketed much of the Alaskan Yukon territory in a thick layer of ash 1,000 years ago. Tyler Kuhn, a Whitehorse native and Simon Fraser University graduate researcher, were able to coax short bits of ancient DNA from caribou bones found in 6,000-yr-old ice patches scattered across an area just north of the British Columbia border. Read more