3:45 PM - 4:00 PM
[SVC28-07] Establishing the timing of Late Quaternary explosive eruptions in East Asia: New insights from Lake Suigetsu (central Japan)
★Invited Papers
Keywords:Tephrochronology, Lake Suigetsu, Cryptotephra, Eruption History, Large Magnitude Eruptions, Stratigraphy
The Suigetsu tephrostratigraphy has provided an unprecedented record into the timing and frequency of explosive eruption events that were dispersed to central Japan over the last 150 ka and also provide new layers for synchronising and dating disparate archives. Cryptotephra identifications show that many eruptions dispersed ash more widely than previously anticipated, and are also able to synchronise palaeoclimate records over hemispheric scales. For example, Lake Suigetsu provides the most southerly tephra occurrence of the B-Tm tephra (~1000 km from source), synchronising this mid-latitude record to the Greenland ice cores. We also find evidence of numerous large explosive eruptions that have yet to be identified in the geological record, which can now be precisely dated using the Suigetsu sedimentary age-model. This talk outlines how sedimentary records provide an important resource for volcanological research, with constraints on the frequency, reoccurrence intervals and dispersal of these eruption events. Moreover, this work serves as a critical reminder that even in volcanic regions that are intensely studied, numerous explosive events during the Quaternary remain poorly understood and are undocumented.
References:
Albert et al. (2019). Geochemical characterisation of the widespread Japanese tephrostratigraphic markers and correlations of the Lake Suigetsu sedimentary archive (SG06 core). Quaternary Geochronology. 52: 103 – 131.
Bronk Ramsey et al. (2012). A complete terrestrial radiocarbon record for 11.2 to 52.8 kyr BP. Science. 338, 370 to 374.
McLean et al. (2018). Integrating the Holocene tephrostratigraphy for East Asia using a high-resolution cryptotephra study from Lake Suigetsu (SG14 core), central Japan. Quaternary Science Reviews. 183: 36 to 58.
McLean et al. (2020). Constraints on the timing of explosive volcanism at Aso and Aira calderas (Japan) between 50 – 30 ka: New insights from the Lake Suigetsu sedimentary record (SG14 core). Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 21: 8.
Smith et al. (2013). Identification and correlation of visible tephras in the Lake Suigetsu SG06 sedimentary archive, Japan: chronostratigraphic markers for synchronising of east Asian/west Pacific palaeoclimatic records across the last 150 ka. Quaternary Science Reviews, 67: 12 to 137.