Radiocarbon Spike 14,350 Years Ago was Caused by Strongest Known Solar Storm, Study Confirms

The Sun rarely produced extreme solar particle events, orders of magnitude stronger than everything directly observed. Their enormous power can greatly distort the production of cosmogenic isotopes, e.g., radiocarbon (¹⁴C), in the terrestrial system, leaving clear signatures in natural terrestrial archives including dateable tree rings. Eight such events were known to occur during the past 12,000 years, with the strongest one being that of 775 CE. Recently, a new extreme solar particle event candidate has been discovered as the largest known radiocarbon peak dated to 12350 BCE. New research shows that this event was stronger by 18% than the 775 CE event and likely occurred between January and April 12350 BCE, with the most probable date in early March.

The Sun rarely produced extreme solar particle events, orders of magnitude stronger than everything directly observed. Their enormous power can greatly distort the production of cosmogenic isotopes, e.g., radiocarbon (¹⁴C), in the terrestrial system, leaving clear signatures in natural terrestrial archives including dateable tree rings. Eight such events were known to occur during the past 12,000 years, with the strongest one being that of 775 CE. Recently, a new extreme solar particle event candidate has been discovered as the largest known radiocarbon peak dated to 12350 BCE. New research shows that this event was stronger by 18% than the 775 CE event and likely occurred between January and April 12350 BCE, with the most probable date in early March.