Volcanoes May Have Helped Spread the Black Death, Study Finds

The Black Death, the OG pandemic, responsible for wiping out tens of millions of people across Europe, Asia, and North Africa between 1346 and 1353, might have had a little help from volcanoes.

I am aware that sounds like the plot of a 2010s SyFy Channel movie. But, according to a study in Communications Earth & Environment, one or more massive tropical eruptions in 1345 may have set the stage for Europe’s deadliest pandemic.

The eruptions were so violent that they left several permanent marks on the world, which come in a variety of forms. The eruptions blasted sulfur into the stratosphere, dimming the sun. Written accounts from China to Italy featured the writers complaining of strange darkness and heavy cloud cover.

Ice cores from both poles show massive sulfur spikes dating back to