Indeed, it has been virtually heated debate since the fall itself that caused the great Roman Empire to fall. Was the economic stagnation largely responsible or was it a social disruption? Has political conflict fatally weakened Rome’s power, or is its decline largely dependent on a series of invasions from abroad? That’s it lead?
The reality is that the empire’s collapse almost certainly occurred through a complex interaction of sociopolitical factors, but recent research suggests that more climate crisis may have contributed than we thought. The new findings were published in the journal on April 11th Geological By a joint team of Queen’s University in Canada, Southampton University in England, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
Previous analysis shows that the Earth withstanded the ice age of about 200-300 years from around AD 540. Scientists believe a powerful volcanic eruption that tossed a massive amount of ashes and debris into the planet’s atmosphere led to a drop in earth temperature and reduced sunlight. Although not as intense as other major ice ages, some researchers argue that this geological age helped to signal the arrival of Rome’s last days. Meanwhile, others argue that the small ice age of the late antiques was merely coincided with the decline of the empire.
New evidence in support of previous arguments comes from strangely existing rocks collected from Iceland, not from modern regions of the ancient Roman Empire. Although this region is primarily known for its basalt, researchers recently decided that a particular sample would contain minimal crystals of mineral zircon.
“Zircon is essentially a time capsule that stores important information, including its crystallization and compositional properties.” Christopher Spencer saidassociate professor at Queens University and lead author of the study. “The combination of age and chemical composition allows you to fingerprint the exposed areas of the Earth’s surface, as is done in forensic medicine.”
After crushing the rocks and separating the zircon crystals, Spencer and his colleagues determined that the minerals span the 3 billion years of geological history, particularly returning to Greenland.
“The fact that the rocks come from almost every geological region of Greenland provides evidence of the origin of the glaciers.” Tom Gernon saidresearch co-author and professor of geoscience at the University of Southampton. “When glaciers move, they erode the landscape, divide rocks from different areas, carry them, creating a mixed, diverse mixture.
The team argues that the zircon-rich ice was formed hundreds of miles away due to the small antique ice age and could only float. According to Gernon, this timing also lined up during known ice rafting periods, where a large amount of ice slab breaks from the glacier, drifting through the ocean, then melting and scattering debris on foreign coasts.
The team clearly cannot link zircon minerals to the collapse of the Roman Empire, but the long movement within the frozen chunks of glaciers further underscores the severity of the 6th century glaciers. Knowing this makes it easy to see how the effects of the Chillier era on crops, civil unrest and mass immigration can further undermine the already unstable Rome.
“When the Roman Empire fell, this climate change could have been a straw that broke the camel’s back,” Gernon said.
