Radiocarbon peak 14,350 years ago was caused by the strongest known solar storm, confirms the study
The sun has rarely produced events of extreme solar particles, stronger orders of size than anything that is directly observed. Their enormous power can considerably distribute the production of cosmogenic isotopes, for example the radiocarbon (14C), in the terrestrial system, leaving clear signatures in natural terrestrial archives, including datable trees. It has been known that eight events of this type occur in the past 12,000 years, the strongest being that of 775 CE. Recently, a new candidate for extreme sundship events has been discovered as the largest known radiocarbon peak dated 12350 BCE. New research shows that this event was stronger by 18% than the 775 CE event and probably occurred between January and April 12350 BCE, with the most likely date in early March.
The illustration of an artist of a solar storm. Image credit: NASA.
“Storms of solar particles can considerably improve the normal production of cosmogenic isotopes such as radiocarbon in the atmosphere by galactic cosmic rays,” said Kseniia Golubenko, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oulu.
“Such improved production, preserved in annual trees of trees, serves as clear cosmic horodatting, which makes the dating possible possible from the samples of trees.”
“Such dramatic points – known as Miyake events, named after the Japanese researcher who discovered them for the first time – offer invaluable data to scientists who study solar activity, ancient earth systems and the space climate.”
“Miyake events allow us to determine the exact civilian years in floating archaeological chronologies,” added Professor Ilya Usoskin of the University of the University.
“The radiocarbon signals of these events have already enabled researchers to precisely date the establishments of Viking in the communities of Newfoundland and Neolithic in Greece.”
To rebuild the storms of solar particles under ancient glacial climatic conditions, the authors have developed and used a new model of chemistry air conditioning called Socol: 14C-Ex.
The model was successfully validated using data in trees of trees of the 775 CE event and applied to the conditions of the ice age to study the event 12350 BCE.
“The old event in 12350 BCE is the only event of extreme sundship particles known outside the Holocene era, the last 12,000 years of stable hot climate,” said Dr. Golubenko.
“Compared to the largest event in the modern satellite era – the 2005 particle storm – The old event was more than 500 times more intense, according to our estimates.”
“Other large storms of known solar particles occurred around 994 EC, 663 BCE, 5259 BCE and 7176 BCE, and some other candidates are the subject of an investigation.”
“The 12350 BCE event also establishes a new scenario of the worst case,” she added.
“Understanding your scale is essential to assess the risks posed by future solar storms towards modern infrastructure such as satellites, electrical networks and communication systems.”
The team’s article was published in the newspaper Earth and planetary science letters.
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Kseniia Golubenko and al. 2025. The model of new Socol: 14C-Ex reveals that the late radiocarbon peak in 12350 BC was caused by the extreme record storm. Earth and planetary science letters 661: 119383; DOI: 10.1016 / J.EPSL.2025.119383
