Nearly 80,000 years ago, a significant event occurred on Earth that drastically altered the climate.

Thousands of years ago in Central America, one of the largest known supereruptions in Earth's history occurred. This catastrophic event triggered an explosion of incredible force — scientists estimate it caused a prolonged global cooling period that initiated an ice age, as reported by IFLScience.

This catastrophic event is now recognized as the Los Chocoyos supereruption and is one of the largest during the Quaternary period. In a new study, researchers examined ancient ice cores and reconstructed a very different picture of what actually happened.

It is known that ice core samples allow scientists to recreate the ancient climate history of the planet, as they capture layers that can be verified and measured, including volcanic ash.

In the new study, scientists from the University of St Andrews aimed to use ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica to determine the exact date of the Los Chocoyos supereruption. The researchers also utilized their findings to reconstruct the climatic consequences of this catastrophic event.

It is important to note that supereruptions are characterized by their explosive potential, leaving behind a large crater-like depression known as a caldera. Only a few have occurred in the last 100,000 years, with none recorded during modern observation history. Such events have global significance due to their ability to eject vast amounts of gases into the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere. These deposits can serve as markers when studying ice cores, as they may include microscopic ash particles known as tephra and peaks of volcanic sulfate.

During the research, focusing on finding the geochemical signature of the Los Chocoyos supereruption from the Atitlán volcanic system in Guatemala within polar ice cores, the team was able to determine that the event occurred approximately 79,500 years ago.

The studied cores also contain detailed information about the environment, and the results indicated that catastrophic short-term changes in global climate systems followed the supereruption; however, these changes did not last for millennia or even centuries. Instead, the planet returned to a pre-eruption state within a few decades.

The authors of the study assert that their findings radically alter our understanding of what followed the Los Chocoyos event and raise questions about the climatic potential of supereruptions throughout history.

Researchers plan to continue their investigations to explore other catastrophic events in Earth's history and examine their consequences in greater detail.