occurrence stratigraphy and geochemistry of late quaternary tephra layers in the aegean sea and the marmara sea abstract several discrete tephra layers occur in 2 5 10 3 m long cores from the aegean sea whereas a single tephra is identified in 3 5 9 7 m long cores from the marmara sea major and trace element data on these tephras delineate eight distinct groups the geochemical data and multivariate statistics allow the correlation of the tephra layers with six previously described marine tephras from the eastern mediterranean sea potential terrestrial sources are suggested for the others the chronostratigraphy of the tephra layers was established using several radiocarbon dates and the oxygen isotope stratigraphy from two long piston cores four widespread tephra layers occur within the upper quaternary sediments of the aegean sea the two youngest widespread tephra layers were derived from the santorini volcano of south central aegean sea z2 the minoan eruption ca 3 6 ka and y2 the cape riva eruption ca 21 7 ka the y2 tephra is also identified in three piston cores from the marmara sea the two older widespread tephra layers originated from the eruptions which emplaced the campanian ignimbrite of the italian volcanic provinces i e the y5 tephra ca 39 3 ka and from the nisyros volcano of the southeastern aegean sea the consistent occurrence of the nisyros tephra below the y5 tephra confirms similar findings in a lake core on the island of lesbos linear extrapolations using the oxygen isotope stratigraphy suggest an age of 42 44 ka for the nisyros eruption three additional tephra layers with a limited regional distribution are identified in the aegean sea cores two of these tephras originated from the yali volcano of the southeastern aegean sea and from the aeolian islands i e x1 tephra a series of six mugearite tephra beds in the south skiros basin is interpreted as a set of redeposited turbidites

distal tephra record for the last ca 105 000 years from core prad 1 2 in the central adriatic sea implications for marine tephrostratigraphy abstract core prad 1 2 located on the western flank of the mid adriatic deep contains a continuous sediment record extending back to upper mis 11 the upper part of the record which spans the mid holocene to mis 5 4 the last ca 105 000 years has been investigated for tephra content a total of 25 discrete tephra layers were discovered only one of which was visible in the core sequence the other 24 are not visible to the naked eye nor were the majority detected by routine down core scanning methods a total of 625 geochemical measurements obtained from individual glass shards using wds epma enabled 21 of the 25 tephras to be assigned to known volcanic events emanating from the campanian province campi flegrei somma vesuvius and ischia island the results provide an independent basis for establishing an age depth profile for the upper part of the prad 1 2 record this study demonstrates that the number of non visible tephra layers can significantly exceed the number of visible layers in some deep marine sequences routine testing for the presence of non visible tephra layers can therefore prove rewarding leading to the detection of additional isochrons for dating and correlating marine sequences and for their synchronisation with terrestrial records

multi method dating comparison for mid pleistocene rangitawa tephra new zealand abstract the rangitawa tephra a widespread mid pleistocene marker in the new zealand region is dated by fission track thermoluminescence tl infrared stimulated luminescence irsl k ar and single crystal laser fusion sclf 40 ar 39 ar methods as well as by matching to the astronomical timescale via oxygen isotope stratigraphy in deep sea cores fifty one independent numerical age estimates for rangitawa tephra range from 173 to 456 ka however only 15 of these results are considered to be reliable five zircon fission track results four isothermal plateau fission track itpft age estimates on glass shards four sclf 40 ar 39 ar results and two astronomically calibrated age estimates from deep sea cores the weighted mean of the nine reliable fission track age determinations is 345 12 ka in excellent agreement with the weighted mean of 340 7 ka for the two reliable astronomically calibrated age estimates the weighted mean of the four reliable 40 ar 39 ar results 302 8 ka is significantly younger and further ar ar dating is recommended to investigate this difference since the tl and irsl dating methods are experimental for sediments beyond 200 ka we have excluded these from the group of reliable age results tl and irsl results on dunesand appear to be systematically younger than tl results on loess and loess results depend upon analytical procedures

revised chronology of the sulmona lacustrine succession central italy we present new stratigraphic palaeomagnetic 87sr 86sr and 40ar 39ar data from a lacustrine succession of the sulmona basin central italy which according to an early study included six unconformity bounded lacustrine units from sul6 oldest to sul1 youngest spanning the interval 600 to 2 ka the results of the present study on the one hand confirm some of the previous conclusions but by contrast reveal that units sul2 and sul1 previously attributed to the holocene are actually equivalent to the older sul6 and sul5 units here dated to 814 530 ka and 530 457 ka respectively and that the u series dates previously published for both former sul2 and sul1 units yielded abnormally young ages in light of the present results a reassessment of the chronology of the sulmona basin succession and a revision of the tephrostratigraphy of the sul2 sul6 and sul1 sul5 units is in order copyright 2013 john wiley sons ltd

the application of icp ms methods to tephrochronological problems pearce nicholas westgate j a perkins w t preece s j 2004 the application of icp ms methods to tephrochronological problems applied gechemistry 19 3 pp 289 322 rae2008

magma chamber evolution prior to the campanian ignimbrite and neapolitan yellow tuff eruptions campi flegrei italy the campi flegrei campanian region italy experienced two cataclysmic caldera forming eruptions which produced the campanian ignimbrite 39 ka ci and the neapolitan yellow tuff 15 ka nyt we studied the minor eruptions before both these large events to understand magma chamber evolution leading towards such catastrophic eruptions major trace element and sr and nd isotope compositions of pre campanian ignimbrite and pre neapolitan yellow tuff products define distinct geochemical groups which are here interpreted as distinct magma batches these batches do not show any transitional trend towards the ci and nyt eruptions the ci and nyt systems are decoupled geochemically and isotopically at least one of the pre ci and one of the pre nyt erupted magma batches qualifies as mixing endmembers for the large ci and nyt eruptions and thus must have been stored in reservoirs for some time to remain available for the ci and nyt eruptions the least evolved isotopically distinct magma compositions that are typical of the last phases of the nyt and ci eruptions did not occur before caldera forming events based on the new data we propose the following scenario multiple magma chambers with distinct compositions existed below the campi flegrei before the ci and nyt eruptions and remained generally separated for some time unless new magma was recharged in each case one of the residing magma reservoirs was recharged by a new large volume magma input of intermediate composition from a deeper differentiating magma reservoir this may have triggered the coalescence of the previously separated reservoirs into one large chamber which fed the cataclysmic caldera forming eruption large magma chambers in the campi flegrei may therefore be ephemeral features interrupted by periods of evolution in individual separated magma reservoirs

tephrochronology and absolute centennial scale synchronisation of european and greenland records for the last glacial to interglacial transition a case study of soppensee and ngrip the tephrostratigraphy of soppensee switzerland is presented here for the first time with new geochemical data for four tephra layers derived from three volcanic centres the best available age estimates for the laacher see tephra and vedde ash layers are incorporated into a revision of the radiocarbon based bayesian age model for the last glacial to interglacial transition at soppensee which is used to explore synchronicity of climatic events between europe and the north atlantic local temperature changes recorded by biotic and abiotic proxies in soppensee appear to shift in phase with the oxygen isotope signal in greenland at the onset of the younger dryas however with the clarity of improved precision an apparent offset that likely results from a dating artefact is seen between records at the termination of the stadial event from a methodological standpoint the results clearly show that only by establishing detailed and independent chronological frameworks can abrupt climatic variability be compared between different regions with sufficiently high temporal precision to addresses the notion of hemispheric climatic synchronicity at the centennial scale in the late quaternary continuing to develop such approaches is therefore essential in order to understand how far in time and space the climate has behaved in such a way

the late mis 5 mediterranean tephra markers a reappraisal from peninsular italy terrestrial records abstract we present new tephrostratigraphic records from the late mis 5 ca 110 80 ka terrestrial sediments from southern and central italy on the one hand the central italy record consists of an outcropping lacustrine sequence from the sulmona intermountain basin that contains four trachytic phonolitic tephra layers pop3 pop2a pop2b pop1 all of which show a k alkaline affinity that is typical for the roman co magmatic province the pop3 and pop1 layers were dated by 40 ar 39 ar method at 106 2 1 3 ka 2 and 92 4 4 6 ka 2 respectively the sequence in southern italy on the other hand is represented by post tyrrhenian coastal deposits of the cilento area campania which contain two trachytic layers cil2 cil1 that show the same k alkaline affinity based on their chemical compositions and radiometric ages pop3 and pop1 are firmly correlated with the marine tephra layers x 5 105 2 ka and c 22 ca 90 ka which in turn match tephras tm 25 and tm 23 11 respectively in the lacustrine sequence of lago grande di monticchio southern italy of note the pop1 layer also matches the adriatic sea tephra prad 2517 that was previously correlated with the older x 5 layer the tephra couplet pop2a and pop2b ca 103 and 103 5 ka extrapolated ages are compatible with the tm 24b and tm 24 3 tephras in monticchio which match both the stratigraphic positions and the chemical compositions in the cilento area as well as the already described x 6 layer ca 108 ka cil2 we recognise a new stratigraphic superimposed layer cil1 that matches the pop3 tm 25 c 27 x 5 mediterranean marker s in summary the data presented here provide new chemical and 40 ar 39 ar chronological constraints towards a robust late mis 5 tephrostratigraphy of the central mediterranean although at the same time they also reveal how the tephrostratigraphy itself might be flawed when dealing with tephra markers that are not adequately constrained and characterised

geochemical and paleomagnetic evidence for the occurrence of missing sapropels in eastern mediterranean sediments the cyclic occurrence of sapropels appears to be associated with maxima in the 65 n summer insolation target curve studies of the most recent sapropel have revealed extensive oxidation of organic matter or even the complete removal of this unit geochemical and magnetic signals allow for the detection of such a missing sapropel in older sediments these signals are altered by ongoing diagenetic processes an important parameter to reveal missing sapropels is ba elevated concentrations of ba are always found in visible sapropels and even after oxidation of part of the sapropel the initial ba profile remains visible we use this tool to trace down missing sapropels in kc01b a 37 m kullenberg core from the calabrian ridge eastern mediterranean at least 8 of 11 sampled intervals around insolation maxima contain evidence of a completely oxidized sapropel ba trace metal distributions and magnetic parameters are similar to those observed around visible sapropels

the last 40 ka tephrostratigraphic record of lake ohrid albania and macedonia a very distal archive for ash dispersal from italian volcanoes abstract a 1075 cm long core lz1120 was recovered in the south eastern part of the lake ohrid republics of macedonia and albania and sampled for identification of tephra layers magnetic susceptibility investigations show rather high magnetic values throughout the core with peaks unrelated to the occurrence of tephra layers but instead to the relative abundance of detrital magnetic minerals in the sediment naked eye inspection of the core allowed us to identify of two tephra layers at 896 897 cm and 1070 1075 cm laboratory inspection of the grain size fraction 125 m allowed for the identification of a third cryptotephra at 310 315 cm major element analyses on glass shards of the tephra layers at 896 897 cm and 1070 1075 cm show a trachytic composition and indicate a correlation with the regionally dispersed y 3 and y 5 tephra layers dated at ca 30 and 39 cal ka bp the cryptotephra at 310 315 cm has a mugearitic benmoreitic composition and was correlated with the fl eruption of mt etna dated at 3370 70 cal yr bp these ages are in agreement with five 14 c ams measurements carried out on plant remains and macrofossils from the lake sediments at different depths along the core the recognition of distal tephra from italian volcanoes allows us to link the lake ohrid succession to other archives located in the mediterranean area and in eastern europe the benmoreitic mugearitic tephra layer at 310 315 cm is the first recognition in the balkan area of a distal ash deposit from a mid intensity explosive eruption of mt etna as far as 600 km from the source

40ar 39ar dating of latest pleistocene 41 ka marine tephra in the mediterranean sea implications for global climate records abstract fifty one 40 ar 39 ar laser heating analyses of sanidine crystals in the c 13 tephra layer recovered out of a piston core raised from 3000 m depth in the tyrrhenian sea yielded apparent ages between 25 and 112 ka twenty four of these measurements define an age probability maximum and generate an isochron of 41 1 2 1 ka 2 with a 40 ar 36 ar intercept of 288 21 that is indistinguishable from the modern atmosphere however the entire population is skewed toward older apparent ages with smaller peaks at 48 ka 55 ka 67 ka and 110 ka the composition of glass shards in the c 13 tephra overlaps that of the sio 2 rich phase of the 150 km 3 campanian ignimbrite which erupted from the campi flegrei caldera 130 km northwest of the core site although the 41 1 2 1 ka isochron is 15 older than k ar and 14 c ages for the campanian ignimbrite it is indistinguishable from recent 40 ar 39 ar age determinations the campanian ignimbrite eruptions were also chemically similar to and correlated with the y 5 ash layer the most voluminous and widely dispersed late pleistocene tephra in the mediterranean region the age of the y 5 layer was constrained originally at 38 0 2 5 ka on the basis of astronomical dating of o isotope stages the 40 ar 39 ar ages astronomical dating plus chemical similarities permit correlation of the c 13 tephra layer with both the campanian ignimbrite and the y 5 tephra layer the older ages preserved in the c 13 tephra layer may reflect xenocrysts incorporated during the explosive eruption accompanying collapse of the campi flegrei caldera 41 ka the c 13 tephra layer is correlated with a 10 be peak in an adjacent marine core o isotope stage 3 12 and immediately preceded a cooling episode corresponding to heinrich event 4 thus the age of these features is constrained by radioisotope dating the 41 ka peak in 10 be deposition is a global phenomenon whose age matches that of the laschamp geomagnetic excursion thus our results provide a new tie point among several polar ice core and marine proxy records of paleoclimate during the past 50 kyr precise age information independent of radiocarbon dating can be recovered from latest pleistocene marine tephra using the 40 ar 39 ar laser heating method despite the presence of multiple components that may have been incorporated during or after its deposition

the age of the neapolitan yellow tuff caldera forming eruption campi flegrei caldera italy assessed by 40ar 39ar dating method abstract the neapolitan yellow tuff nyt is the product of the largest known trachytic phreatoplinian eruption it covered an area larger than 1000 km2 with an estimated volume of about 40 km3 of erupted magma during the course of the eruption a caldera collapsed within the previously formed campanian ignimbrite caldera the resulting nested structure strongly influenced the following volcanic activity in the campi flegrei caldera as previous dating of the nyt does not converge toward a unique result a new set of 40ar 39ar age determinations has been carried out to better constrain the age of the eruption two variants of the 40ar 39ar dating method were applied to determine the age of the nyt eruption 1 single crystal total fusion sctf on an individual phenocryst of feldspar and 2 laser incremental heating lih on bulk aliquots of feldspar phenocrysts the results of the sctf analyses show that the overall sample weighted mean age derived from the conventional age calculation is 15 6 0 8 ka a weighted mean of the isochron age is 15 3 1 2 ka 2 and has been assumed as the best indicator of age to be derived from the sctf analyses the lih analyses results show that plateau ages vary from 15 4 0 5 to 14 5 0 5 ka the overall weighted mean age of the isochron results is 14 9 0 4 ka 2 this result has been assumed as the reference age for the nyt eruption and agrees with the sctf age the new age obtained for the nyt deposits is of great relevance for the understanding of the evolution and the present state of the campi flegrei caldera and collocates the nyt in a crucial stratigraphical position to date the climatic oscillations that occurred between the late glacial and the holocene

correlation of welded ignimbrites on pantelleria strait of sicily using paleomagnetism although the oldest volcanic rocks exposed at pantelleria strait of sicily are older than 300 ka most of the island is covered by the 45 50 ka green tuff ignimbrite thought to be related to the cinque denti caldera and younger lavas and scoria cones pre 50 ka rocks predominantly rheomorphic ignimbrites are exposed at isolated sea cliffs and their stratigraphy and chronology are not completely resolved based on volcanic stratigraphy and k ar dating it has been proposed that the older la vecchia caldera is related to ignimbrite q 114 ka and that ignimbrites f d and z 106 94 and 79 ka respectively were erupted after caldera formation we report here the paleomagnetic directions obtained from 23 sites in ignimbrite p 133 ka and four younger ignimbrites and from an uncorrelated and loosely dated welded lithic breccia thought to record a caldera forming eruption the paleosecular variation of the geomagnetic field recorded by ignimbrites is used as correlative tool with an estimated time resolution in the order of 100 years we find that ignimbrites d and z correspond in good agreement with recent ar ar ages constraining the d z eruption to 87 ka the welded lithic breccia correlates with a thinner breccia lying just below ignimbrite p at another locality implying that collapse of the la vecchia caldera took place at 130 160 ka this caldera was subsequently buried by ignimbrites p q f and d z paleomagnetic data also show that the northern caldera margin underwent a 10 west northwest outwards tilting after emplacement of ignimbrite p possibly recording magma resurgence in the crust

stratigraphic signature of the vesuvius 79 ad event off the sarno prodelta system naples bay abstract sedimentological and chemical analysis of gravity core samples along with the interpretation of very high resolution single channel seismic reflection profiles acquired off the sarno prodelta system southeastern naples bay document the sedimentary facies and seismic stratigraphic signature of the tephra deposit erupted by vesuvius during the plinian eruption of 79 ad the 79 ad pyroclastic deposits sampled off the sarno prodelta system revealed significantly different characters with respect to both the subaerial succession documented from the type sections of pompeii herculaneum and oplontis and the more distal pyroclastic fallout deposits that were recovered from the outer continental shelf off the northern salerno bay this was likely to be expected as in proximal subaqueous settings both primary deposition and reworking of tephra are known to be influenced by the hydrodynamics of the water itself induced by the pyroclastic currents entering the sea as well as by the early instability of pyroclastic bedforms due to the exceptionally high sediment yield during volcanic eruption according to the data illustrated and discussed in this study we suggest that the 79 ad tephra deposit sampled off the sarno prodelta is likely to be the result of a number of syn eruptive genetically related depositional and or erosional mechanisms associated with 1 anomalous waves tsunami and currents generated by the entrance of pyroclastic flows and surges into the sea 2 subaqueous density flows evolved from the impact of hot pyroclastic currents into the seawater 3 failure of water logged cohesionless pumice deposits due to instability of pyroclastic bedforms rapidly accumulating on the seafloor seismic interpretation revealed that the upper holocene sequence off the sarno prodelta system is affected by extensive creep involving the whole post 79 ad succession deformation due to creep is documented by slumping of semi consolidated strata over a basal surface represented by the lithologic discontinuity between the base of the 79 ad tephra deposits and the underlying hemipelagite seismic data also suggest that gravitational instability of this area has been induced or enhanced by significant volcanotectonic deformation and local uplift of the seafloor that ostensibly predated the eruptive event the results of this research may be relevant to studies of other eruption events in close proximity to coastlines in terms of wave and or current generated sedimentary features as a possible explanation of unusual subaqueous facies architecture

fuzzy c means cluster analysis of early diagenetic effects on natural remanent magnetisation acquisition in a 1 1 myr piston core from the central mediterranean abstract the influence of early diagenesis on the natural remanent magnetisation nrm in sediments from the calabrian ridge central mediterranean is analysed with the help of fuzzy c means fcm cluster analysis and non linear mapping nlm the sediments are variably coloured white beige purplish greenish and grey layers occur with occasionally intercalated sapropels the nrm acquired depends on both depositional conditions and diagenetic processes to describe these fcm was performed with in arm caco3 ba mn and s as variables an eight cluster model was derived with the clusters belonging to two categories one expressing mainly diagenetic processes i e dissolution and precipitation and the other expressing mainly depositional conditions the impact of diagenesis on nrm acquisition is profound and not restricted to the close vicinity of the anoxic sapropelitic layers as a consequence the influence of diagenetic processes on the nrm should be thoroughly assessed when selecting samples e g for the determination of the relative palaeointensity of the geomagnetic field application of multivariate classification techniques appears to be useful because it links rock magnetic parameters to the geochemical environment in the present piston core three short reversed geomagnetic events in the brunhes chron are preserved and indeed occur in clusters expressing no or minor diagenesis the recording of the blake event however has been prevented by later precipitation of magnetite in the corresponding interval

age of submarine debris avalanches and tephrostratigraphy offshore ischia island tyrrhenian sea italy abstract we present an event stratigraphy framework built for the last 23 cal ka marine record in the southern offshore of ischia island based on ams 14 c dating and tephrostratigraphic analysis of 11 gravity cores two collapse events have been recovered in the record a the ischia submarine debris avalanche debris flow da df dated between 3 ka b p and 2 4 ka b p and possibly between 2 7 ka b p and 2 4 ka b p event df1 b a former pre holocene da df older than 23 cal ka b p event df2 the ischia da with an estimated volume of 1 5 km 3 incorporates thousands of blocks that are still detectable on the sea floor until 45 50 km far from the island our results indicate an age of emplacement younger than previously thought and support the hypothesis that a major catastrophic event occurred when the island was already inhabited by greek settlers i e after the 7th century bc three ash layers have been recognised in the post df1 avalanche sequence and correlated with ischian eruptions occurred between middle ages and roman times two tephras recovered in the pre df1 succession have been correlated with explosive activity occurred on ischia and procida islands from 23 ka to 17 5 ka b p the results presented here improve the chronostratigraphic reconstruction of the main eruptive and collapse events that affected ischia volcano during late pleistocene holocene and their dispersal at sea the occurrence of at least two major collapsing events in the past 23 kyr confirms the close genetic relationship between gravity failures and mt epomeo uplift

laser 40ar39ar ages of tephra from indian ocean deep sea sediments tie points for the astronomical and geomagnetic polarity time scales tephra layers within deep sea sediment cores are valuable stratigraphic markers which can be radiometrically dated with high precision by the laser 40ar39ar technique two neogene ash layers from ocean drilling program odp site 758 have been dated these layers are located within detailed oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphies which have previously been assigned ages based on the astronomically derived geomagnetic polarity time scale adgpts 7 10 28 we use the radiometric dates from the ash layers to independently evaluate the ages assigned to oxygen isotope stage 19 1 and the paleomagnetic reversals marking the brunhes matuyama boundary and the termination of the nunivak event ash d 20 21 yields an age of 800 20 ka which is consistent with an adgpts age of 780 ka for the overlying brunhes matuyama transition and with the astronomical age for oxygen isotope stage 19 1 ash i located near the top of the nunivak subchron bears evidence of excess 40ar an error weighted mean of five plateau ages gives an apparent age of 4 519 012 ma but an errorchron through a subset of the data suggests a possible eruption age of 4 43 03 ma the plateau age is in agreement with the adgpts 7 10 28 and the errorchron age is in agreement with the time scale of baksi 29 the laser 40ar39ar ages of both ashes are significantly older than the ages from the radiometrically derived time scale rdgpts of mankinen and dalrymple 3 which is primarily based upon a large dataset of k ar dated paleomagnetic poles it is essential to reconcile the adgpts with the rdgpts because radiometric age tie points are the best hope of extending the adgpts to times before 5 ma an analysis of the expected and actual variance for the astronomical and mankinen and dalrymple 3 time scales suggests that only a handful of low k ar ages may have biased the original gpts it is not necessary to invoke general systematic errors in the ar dating system to explain the discrepancies between the rdgpts and adgpts

glass chemistry in volcaniclastic sediments of odp leg 107 site 650 sedimentary sequence provenance and chronological implications abstract a detailed chemical investigation of volcanic glass fragments from volcaniclastic strata 6 tephras 1 volcanic debris flow 12 volcanic turbidites of odp leg 107 site 650 sedimentary sequence leads to a varied pattern in terms of both provenance and age constraints the six analyzed tephra strata indicate a provenance from at least three different volcanic provinces aeolian campanian and sicilian channel pantelleria island the older tephra strata 021 018 012 have a large amount of orogenic rhyodacite rhyolite deposits that may be attributed to the aeolian province although no subaerial coeval volcanic activity of similar composition has so far been documented in the aeolian arc tephra 007 is related to the pantelleria island activity and particularly to an ignimbrite episode dated circa 130 ka tephra strata 005 and 003 have a clear campanian provenance and are correlated with analogous tephra layers observed in the tyrrhenian and ionian seas dated circa 107 and 60 ka respectively in the oldest portion of the sequence from 1 3 to 0 13 ma the volcaniclastic sediments were only derived from the aeolian domain whereas in the latest 130 ka the campanian influx becomes much more predominant therefore a general k enrichment trend is observed in the temporal sequence of all the analyzed samples almost 700 point analyses which may be related both to a variation in the source area and to the specific pleistocene magmatic evolution of the peri tyrrhenian volcanic provinces

tephra layers in late quaternary sediments of the central adriatic sea abstract magnetic susceptibility curves of ten cores collected in the western adriatic shelf and in the mid adriatic deep allowed us to recognize thirty tephra layers whose age based on physical and biostratigraphic data encompass a time interval ranging from less than 70 ka to the present chemical features of the tephra defined by sem eds analyses performed on glass shards indicate alkaline affinity mainly with k na 1 and trachytic compositions with two minor benmoreitic and phonolitic groups these characteristics are consistent with campanian and subordinate etnean provenances because of chemical and age constraints the glass shards can be referred to six tephra layers already described in the literature such as c20 c14 citara ischia c10 campanian ignimbrite c2 nyt neapolitan yellow tuff ams pf agnano monte spina phlegrean fields from campanian area and y1 from etna volcano indicating an age ranging from about 70 to 4 ka ams pf and c2 nyt dated 4 4 and 12 3 ka respectively are the most widespread tephra beds in the study cores the occurrence of ams pf never recorded in marine sequences up to now represents a very good marker for holocene adriatic sediments c2 nyt already recorded in the central tyrrhenian sea in lacustrine sediments from southern italy and in the campanian area is a good stratigraphic marker for inter sea and sea land correlations y1 tephra dated 14 2 ka also occurs in on land sediments of central italy and in marine sediments from the tyrrhenian and ionian seas it now represents one of the most widespread stratigraphic markers in the central mediterranean region

calcareous nannofossils planktonic foraminifera and oxygen isotopes in the late quaternary sapropels of the ionian sea core m 25 4 12 a long piston core 12 20 m recovered in the ionian sea during cruise m25 4 of the r v meteor summer 1993 at a water depth of 2467 m shows an almost complete sequence of sapropels s 1 s 3 to s 10 over the last 330 ka this paper presents the results of an integrated study based on quantitative biostratigraphic analyses performed on both calcareous nannofossils and planktonic foraminifera coupled with the 18o record a decrease in syracosphaera sp 1 and an increase in the abundance of the genus rhabdosphaera and of helicosphaera carteri florisphaera profunda and of the reworked specimens has been found in the calcareous nannofossil assemblage within the sapropels the planktonic foraminiferal assemblage of the sapropels is characterized by a peak in the frequency of globigerinoides ruber var alba and rosea and neogloboquadrina dutertrei the 18o record of globigerinoides ruber and globigerina bulloides allows recognition of isotope stages 1 to 9 and shows a negative fluctuation that corresponds to the sapropel layers these features support the idea of increased productivity coupled to the presence of reduced salinity surface waters that caused the deposition of the sapropels however the need for a good understanding of the ecological requirements of modern assemblages is stressed this is necessary to correctly interpret fossil assemblages this in turn will allow a better understanding of the palaeoceanographic conditions leading to sapropel deposition

retro foreland basin development in response to proto tethyan ocean closure ne tibet plateau the compositions and ages of the sediments within retro or foreland basins that are formed and preserved adjacent to collisional orogens can reflect the nature of colliding tectonic elements the nonmarine yaoshuiquan and huabaoshan formations in the south qilian belt on the ne tibetan plateau deposited within a retro foreland basin setting during latest ordovician to late silurian time in response to arc continent collision detritus derivation from a cambro ordovician arc ophiolite complex contains mixed 530 480 ma oceanic crust together with contributions from a 479 450 ma continental arc early in development of the basin the cambrian arc accretionary system and central qilian block united to form the basement of a continental arc at 450 ma and both then contributed sediments to the lianhuashan huabaoshan basin after the hualong complex accreted to the north a broad andean type margin developed along the southern margin of the central qilian block from 450 to 440 ma these processes generated a wider basin that received detritus from both the south and the north consumption of the proto tethyan ocean ended with collision between the qaidam and hualong blocks which led to mass wasting of detritus from the andean type igneous rocks and both blocks with the basin from 440 to 420 ma

tephrostratigraphy and tephrochronology in the philippi peat basin macedonia northern hellas greece abstract three tephra layers have been identified in the upper 15 m of a 190 m section of peat beneath the philippi fen they provide significant lithological and chronological markers throughout the fen and the aegean region the upper tephra pht1 consists of shards of a transparent calcalkaline felsic glass and fragments of plagioclase augite hypersthene and rare hornblende magnetite apatite and quartz peat directly beneath pht1 gave a radiocarbon approximate age of 13 000 yr the middle tephra layer pht2 which resembles pht1 in chemistry and petrography but contains more crystals and lithic fragments rests on peat dated ca 18 000 14 c yr bp the lower tephra pht3 has colorless to brown glass shards with a trachytic chemistry and a mineral assemblage of sanidine sodic plagioclase biotite aegirine augite hornblende titanite and apatite bracketing radiocarbon ages imply that pht3 accumulated about 30 000 14 c yr bp the likely ages of pht1 and pht2 together with their mineralogical and chemical characteristics suggest that these tephras came from the volcanic field of thera in the hellenic arc pht2 particularly was derived from a major known explosive eruption ca 18 000 yr bp the cape riva eruption correlative to the y 2 tephra layer evidence for pht3 suggests derivation from the campanian province of italy and correlation with the campanian ignimbrite and the y 5 ash beneath the mediterranean sea

tracing volcanic events in the ngrip ice core and synchronising north atlantic marine records during the last glacial period five basaltic tephra horizons have been identified in the ngrip ice core during the last glacial period geochemical analyses indicate that these tephras are of icelandic origin with one horizon identified as the faroe marine ash zone iii fmaz iii an important marker horizon in several marine records within the faroe islands margin the fmaz iii is a few millimetres thick and is constrained to 38 122 723 yr b2k before year ad 2000 according to the greenland ice core chronology gicc05 this event falls directly at the thermal peak of greenland interstadial 8 gi 8 and a marine ice correlation based on the position of this tephra suggests a close coupling of the marine and atmospheric systems at this time the remaining tephras originate from the eastern volcanic zone with the katla volcanic system pinpointed as the dominant source these are thought to represent previously unknown volcanic events which add considerably to our knowledge of icelandic volcanism during this period independent ages are assigned to these events and together with major element characterisation form the backbone of the tephrochronology framework presented here despite the identification of these tephras this study also demonstrates that the sulphate record may not always act as a suitable proxy for the identification of tephra horizons in ice core records

new insights into late pleistocene explosive volcanic activity and caldera formation on ischia southern italy a new pyroclastic stratigraphy is presented for the island of ischia italy for the period 75 50 ka bp the data indicate that this period bore witness to the largest eruptions recorded on the island and that it was considerably more volcanically active than previously thought numerous vents were probably active during this period the deposits of at least 10 explosive phonolite to basaltic trachyandesite eruptions are described and interpreted they record a diverse range of explosive volcanic activity including voluminous fountain fed ignimbrite eruptions fallout from sustained eruption columns block and ash flows and phreatomagmatic eruptions previously unknown eruptions have been recognised for the first time on the island several of the eruptions produced pyroclastic density currents that covered the whole island as well as the neighbouring island of procida and parts of the mainland the morphology of ischia was significantly different to that seen today with edifices to the south and west and a submerged depression in the centre the largest volcanic event the monte epomeo green tuff megt resulted in caldera collapse across all or part of the island it is shown to comprise at least two thick intracaldera ignimbrite flow units separated by volcaniclastic sediments that were deposited during a pause in the eruption extracaldera deposits of the megt include a pumice fall deposit emplaced during the opening phases of the eruption a widespread lithic lag breccia outcropping across much of ischia and procida and a distal ignimbrite in south west campi flegrei during this period the style and magnitude of volcanism was dictated by the dynamics of a large differentiated magma chamber which was partially destroyed during the megt eruption this contrasts with the small volume holocene and historical effusive and explosive activity on ischia the timing and distribution of which has been controlled by the resurgence of the monte epomeo block the new data contribute to a clearer understanding of the long term volcanic and magmatic evolution of ischia

the campanian ignimbrite and codola tephra layers two temporal stratigraphic markers for the early upper palaeolithic in southern italy and eastern europe tephra layers from archaeological sites in southern italy and eastern europe stratigraphically associated with cultural levels containing early upper palaeolithic industry were analysed the results confirm the occurrence of the campanian ignimbrite tephra ci ca 40 cal ka bp at castelcivita cave southern italy temnata cave bulgaria and in the kostenki borshchevo area of the russian plain this tephra originated from the largest eruption of the phlegrean field caldera represents the widest volcanic deposit and one of the most important temporal stratigraphic markers of western eurasia at paglicci cave and lesser sites in the apulia region we recognise a chemically and texturally different tephra which lithologically chronologically and chemically matches the physical and chemical characteristics of the plinian eruption of codola a poorly known late pleistocene explosive event from the neapolitan volcanoes likely somma vesuvius for this latter we propose a preliminary age estimate of ca 33 cal ka bp and a correlation to the widespread c 10 marine tephra of the central mediterranean the stratigraphic position of both ci and codola tephra layers at castelcivita and paglicci help date the first and the last documented appearance of early upper palaeolithic industries of southern italy to ca 41 40 and 33 cal ka bp respectively or between two interstadial oscillations of the monticchio pollen record to which the ci and codola tephras are physically correlated corresponding to the greenland interstadials 10 9 and 5 in eastern europe the stratigraphic and chronometric data seem to indicate an earlier appearance of the early upper palaeolithic industries which would predate of two millennia at least the overlying ci tephra the tephrostratigraphic correlation indicates that in both regions the innovations connected with the so called early upper palaeolithic encompassing subsistence strategy and stone tool technology appeared and evolved during one of the most unstable climatic phases of the last glacial period on this basis the marked environmental unpredictability characterising this time span is seen as a potential ecological factor involved in the cultural changes observed

late pleistocene climatic variations as recorded in two italian maar lakes lago di mezzano lago grande di monticchio abstract sediment profiles from two maar lakes lago di mezzano central italy and lago grande di monticchio southern italy were investigated with respect to their minerogenic and biogenic sediment accumulation rates for a time window spanning the final 20 000 yr of the last glaciation the chronological framework is provided by calibrated radiocarbon ages varve counting calculation of sedimentation rates and tephrochronology in the time slice between 34 000 and 14 000 cal bp periods of increased minerogenic input are observed in both lacustrine records interrupted by periods of low minerogenic input these cyclic variations have an average recurrence time of 1785 yr for lago di mezzano and 2875 yr for lago grande di monticchio comparing well with marine and ice core data explanations for these pulses of increased minerogenic sedimentation include enhanced erosion and runoff the higher precipitation evaporation ratio required for this interpretation was possibly restricted to winter months as earlier published pollen analyses on sediments from lago grande di monticchio show a contemporary development of steppe vegetation an indicator for cool dry climatic conditions this may be connected with a southward shift of the westerlies and a reinforced jet stream agreement of lacustrine data from italy with late pleistocene glacial events in central italy with events recorded in marine archives from the north atlantic heinrich events and with oxygen isotope data from greenland ice cores is interpreted as evidence for the late pleistocene climate in europe being influenced by north atlantic climatic forcing which may be related to dansgaard oeschger cycles

tyrrhenian sea tephrochronology of the oxygen isotope record for the past 60 000 years abstract a chronology of the marine oxygen isotope record of the past 60 ka is proposed by correlating eight marine ash layers with terrestrial volcanic deposits dated by the 14c and or k ar methods detailed oxygen isotope analyses were made on the planktonic foraminifera of three cores collected in the central tyrrhenian sea the origin of the ash layers was determined by major and trace elements analyses then the major pyroclastic terrestrial deposits were sampled and analysed in order to provide land sea correlations two ash layers occurred during the warm event that followed the first step of the deglaciation and which was dated at 12 6 0 5 ka b p another ash layer is present near the last glacial maximum that we have dated at 17 5 0 3 ka b p during isotopic stage 3 five ash layers were recognized and dated which allowed us to assign ages to the isotopically light oxygen peaks warmer interstadials at 31 1 5 ka and 33 4 1 6 ka denekamp at 37 5 2 ka hengelo and successively at 49 2 ka 52 4 2 2 ka 57 2 2 ka and 60 5 2 2 ka moershoofd complex

tephrochronology of the astronomically tuned kc01b deep sea core ionian sea insights into the explosive activity of the central mediterranean area during the last 200 ka abstract we present a major trace and rare earth element characterization of single glass shards from fifteen tephra layers found in the astronomically tuned kc01b deep sea core ionian sea central mediterranean 36 15 25 n 17 34 44 e 3642 m water depth kc01b is considered a reference core for the mediterranean area since it provides a new reliable astronomical tuned timescale for the last 1 112 my lourens 2004 the studied deposits punctuate the marine record in a time span ranging from ca 16 ka to ca 191 ka b p encompassing the climatic zones y x w and v they are related to volcanic activity of the campania plain aeolian islands mt etna and pantelleria island along with major main markers of the central mediterranean area such as y 1 y 5 and x 6 astronomically dated at 16 7 ka 39 1 ka and 110 5 ka respectively the succession contains a number of well preserved deposits which can represent useful inter archive instruments of correlation the campania plain in particular sourced at least nine compositionally homogeneous tephra layers prior to the campanian ignimbrite event the data obtained in this work provide a new detailed analytical reference database for ionian sea tephrochronology and for proximal distal correlation studies they may help to unravel from the marine record the history of poorly known or unknown explosive activity on land since the middle pleistocene along with chemical composition size and dispersal of the products

tephrostratigraphy of the last 170 ka in sedimentary successions from the adriatic sea abstract in this study are discussed new sem eds analyses performed on glass shards from five cores collected in the central adriatic sea and two cores recovered from the south adriatic sea a total of 26 tephra layers have been characterized and compared with the geochemical features of terrestrial deposits and other tephra archives in the area south adriatic sea and lago grande di monticchio vulture volcano the compositions are compatible with either a campanian or a roman provenance the cores located on the central adriatic inner and outer shelf recorded tephra referred to explosive events described in the literature ap3 sub plinian activity of the somma vesuvius 2710 60 14 c years bp avellino eruption somma vesuvius 3548 129 14 c years bp agnano monte spina phlegrean fields 4100 400 years bp mercato eruption somma vesuvius 8010 35 14 c years bp agnano pomici principali eruption phlegrean fields 10 320 50 14 c years bp neapolitan yellow tuff phlegrean fields 12 100 170 14 c years bp some of these layers were also observed in the south adriatic core in68 9 in addition to younger ap2 sub plinian eruption somma vesuvius 3225 140 14 c years bp and older layers pomici di base eruption somma vesuvius 18 300 150 14 c years bp significant is the tephra record of core rf95 7 that for the first time in the adriatic sea reports the occurrence of tephra layers older than 60 ka the well known mediterranean tephra layers x2 ca 70 ka w1 ca 140 ka and v2 roman origin ca 170 ka as well as other tephra layers attributed on the basis of geochemistry and biostratigraphy to explosive eruptions occurred at vico 138 2 and 151 3 ka bp and ischia 147 140 ka bp previous tephra correlations performed on other cores in the central adriatic sea were also critically revised according to new available data and integrated with the results of this study for a correlation at a regional scale the most important key beds for correlation are the agnano monte spina and neapolitan yellow tuff tephra layers which occur in both central and south adriatic sea other tephra layers younger than 15 ka are relatively less frequent the y1 etna 14 180 260 14 c years bp and agnano pomici principali in the more recent record in the shelf cores north of gargano promontory the ap3 tephra layer is also frequent

late glacial explosive activity on mount etna implications for proximal distal tephra correlations and the synchronisation of mediterranean archives abstract plinian and ignimbrite deposits represent explosive activity ca 17 19 cal ka within the predominantly effusive and mildly explosive strombolian volcanic history of mount etna italy proximal glasses from the biancavilla ignimbrites and unit d plinian fall deposits are characterised fall deposits recorded at acireale d1b and d2b and giarre d1a and d2a are geochemically distinct confirming they relate to different eruptions the acireale plinian fall d1b and d2b deposits compositionally overlap with the biancavilla ignimbrite deposits these explosive eruptions from etna are considered responsible for widespread ash dispersals throughout the central mediterranean region producing the marker tephra layers y 1 et 1 recorded in marine and lacustrine sedimentary archives stratigraphically these distal tephras occur at or close to the onset of the last deglaciation termination 1 within their respective palaeoenvironmental records therefore making them potentially crucial tephrostratigraphic markers this study investigates distal tephra deposits thought to be from etna recorded in the ionian sea y 1 lago grande di monticchio lgdm italy tephras tm 11 and tm 12 1 lago di mezzano italy and the haua fteah cave libya the glass chemistry of y 1 tephras recorded in the ionian sea and at haua fteah is consistent with the biancavilla ignimbrites 16 965 17 670 cal yrs bp and the upper acireale plinian fall d2b the lgdm record indicates that explosive activity on etna associated with unit d spans a minimum of 1540 80 varve years tm 12 1 19 200 19 804 cal yrs bp in lgdm appears to represent the oldest distal counterpart of etna unit d explosive activity and is associated with the lower acireale d1b plinian eruption the proximally undefined tm 11 17 640 18 324 cal yrs bp and distal correlatives are geochemically distinct from the ionian sea y 1 tephra such significant compositional differences seen between distal tephra layers are not observed within individual proximal units and are likely to indicate that the distal tephras relate to separate eruptive phases until proximal relationships can be established the tm 11 type y 1 equivalents should be termed tm 11 great care should be exercised when using these distal ash layers to synchronise sedimentary records during a crucial period of environmental change

tephrostratigraphy study for the last 18 000 14 c years in a deep sea sediment sequence for the south adriatic abstract a detailed tephrostratigraphy supported by accelerator mass spectrometry ams 14c dating and isotopic and geochemical analyses has been carried out for a deep sea core collected from the southern adriatic sea which spans the last 18 14c kyr fourteen ash layers have been recognized in the marine core and the origin was determined by comparing their age and geochemistry with tephra detected in terrestrial deposits the geochemical signatures of marine ash layers indicate a prevailing campanian and subordinate etnean and eolian provenances collectively they are attributed to sources in the phlegraean fields lam lagno amendolare ln1 ln2 gm1 c 2 nyt neapolitan yellow tuff c 1 agnano pomici principali ams pf agnano monte spina ast astroni somma vesuvius l9 pomici di base l8 greenish mount etna et1 y1 biancavilla ignimbrite lipari e 1 gabellotto fiumebianco and palinuro seamount pal 1 some of these eruptions have been detected for the first time in marine cores astroni lam l9 l8 and three were detected and dated by marine tephra ln1 ln2 and pal 1 providing new more precise stratigraphic markers for the last 18 kyr in the south adriatic marine record

quantifying volcanic ash dispersal and impact of the campanian ignimbrite super eruption 1 we apply a novel computational approach to assess for the first time volcanic ash dispersal during the campanian ignimbrite italy super eruption providing insights into eruption dynamics and the impact of this gigantic event the method uses a 3d time dependent computational ash dispersion model a set of wind fields and more than 100 thickness measurements of the ci tephra deposit results reveal that the ci eruption dispersed 250 300 km 3 of ash over 3 7 million km 2 the injection of such a large quantity of ash and volatiles into the atmosphere would have caused a volcanic winter during the heinrich event 4 the coldest and driest climatic episode of the last glacial period fluorine bearing leachate from the volcanic ash and acid rain would have further affected food sources and severely impacted late middle early upper paleolithic groups in southern and eastern europe citation costa a a folch g macedonio b giaccio r isaia and v c smith 2012 quantifying volcanic ash dispersal and impact of the campanian ignimbrite super eruption geophys res lett 39 l10310 doi 10 1029 2012gl051605

stratigraphic constraints for explosive activity in the past 100 ka at etna volcano italy the pyroclastic deposits of etna have been correlated over the whole volcanic edifice for the first time allowing the construction of a continuous record of tephra producing events which extends from approximately 100 ka to the present in this interval five main periods of explosive activity have been identified a 100 ka strombolian to subplinian activity b 80 to 100 ka plinian benmoreitic activity c 16 to 80 ka strombolian to subplinian from basaltic to mugearitic activity d 15 5 to 15 ka plinian benmoreitic activity accompanying the caldera forming eruptions of the ellittico volcano and e the most recent 13 ka basaltic explosive activity of strombolian and subplinian type of the present edifice that also includes the 122 b c plinian eruption this study results in a semi quantitative and in some cases quantitative definition of the intensity and chronology of the explosive activity at etna moreover this work gives a new significance to the volcanic hazards of etna a volcano generally considered to be the site of gentle effusive eruptions

rb sr record of fluid rock interaction in eclogites the marun keu complex polar urals russia abstract rb sr internal mineral isochrons in the eclogite facies marun keu metamorphic complex polar urals russia date periods of fluid rock interaction and record the metamorphic reaction history the marun keu complex consists of late proterozoic to early ordovician mostly igneous rocks that experienced a subduction related non pervasive eclogite facies metamorphism followed by a local decompression related amphibolite facies overprint during the uralian orogeny field observations show that metamorphic reactions as well as ductile deformation are controlled by local availability of a free fluid phase isotopic data reveals that availability of fluids similarly exerts control on isotope distribution from a relic gabbro which has never been infiltrated by free fluids a premetamorphic rb sr age of 467 39 ma was obtained rb sr isochron ages for 14 samples of eclogite and amphibolite facies assemblages sampled from within or close to metamorphic fluid veins range from 352 5 ma to 360 3 ma a sm nd isochron for a metagranite yields an age of 354 4 ma taken together the ages for both prograde and retrograde metamorphic assemblages overlap within analytical uncertainty and yield an average value of 355 5 1 4 ma indicating that the metamorphic evolution and incipient exhumation of the marun keu complex proceeded rapidly the results demonstrate that assemblages preserve their rb sr isotopic signatures as long as they remain devoid of free fluids and that only fluid rock interaction may cause sr isotope redistribution in addition the data suggest local fluid rock equilibrium low fluid rock ratios with overall fluid deficiency and limited fluid mobility at depth however some fluids must have been mobile on the km scale since they can be traced into the suprasubduction zone mantle wedge metasomatic veins in the rai iz ophiolite yield a rb sr mineral isochron age of 373 1 5 4 ma they are interpreted as evidence for suprasubduction zone metasomatism in an oceanic setting prior to subduction of the east european margin and associated formation of eclogites in the marun keu complex we propose that rb sr mineral isochron ages provide hygrochronological rather than thermochronological constraints they define the cooling history only in combination with zircon and apatite fission track data the straightforward interpretation of rb sr mineral ages as cooling ages is obsolete

the restless resurgent campi flegrei nested caldera italy constraints on its evolution and configuration abstract we have collected new stratigraphic data in the campi flegrei caldera through surface geological mapping and study of cores drilled to various depths we integrate these data with geological geochronological and geophysical constraints available in the literature to reconstruct the volcanic and deformational history of the caldera the caldera is a resurgent nested structure resulting from two main collapses related to the campanian ignimbrite 37 ka and the neapolitan yellow tuff 12 ka eruptions while the structure is affected by a broad subsidence ongoing local resurgence and unrest occur inside the younger nested caldera structure although most of the caldera floor consists of multiple structural blocks due to long term deformations magmas were able to erupt only in one sector of the resurgent part the caldera has shown signs of unrest during the past 25 years with short term deformations that have generated a net uplift of 3 5 m the short term deformations are related to the neapolitan yellow tuff caldera resurgence and interpreted as the net result of brittle and ductile components the long term deformations likely represent the sum of the permanent brittle component of each short term deformational event

tephrostratigraphy chronology and climatic events of the mediterranean basin during the holocene an overview the identification and characterisation of high frequency climatic changes during the holocene requires natural archives with precise and accurate chronological control which is usually difficult to achieve using only 14c chronologies the presence of time spaced tephra beds in quaternary mediterranean successions represents an additional independent tool for dating and correlating different sedimentary archives these tephra layers are potentially useful for resolving long standing issues in paleoclimatology and can help towards correlating terrestrial and marine paleoclimate archives known major tephras of regional extent derive from central and southern italy the hellenic arc and from anatolia a striking feature of major holocene tephra deposition events in the mediterranean is that they are clustered rather than randomly distributed in time several tephra layers occurred at the time of the s1 sapropel formation between c 8 4 and 9 0 ka bp mercato gabellotto fiumebianco e1 cappadocia and ot

timing of magma extraction during the campanian ignimbrite eruption campi flegrei caldera a core drilled within the northern part of the city of napoli has offered the unique opportunity to observe in one single sequence the superposition of the four pyroclastic flow units emplaced during the campanian ignimbrite ci eruption such a stratigraphic succession has never been encountered before in natural or in man made exposures therefore the ci sequence was reconstructed only on the basis of stratigraphic correlations and compositional data in literature the occurrence of four superposed ci flows together with all the data available in literature allowed us to better constrain the chemical stratigraphy of the deposit and the compositional structure of the ci magma chamber the ci magma chamber includes two cogenetic magma layers separated by a compositional gap the upper magma layer was contaminated by interaction with radiogenic fluids the two magma layers were extruded either individually or simultaneously during the course of the eruption in the latter case they produced a hybrid magma but no evidence of input of new geochemically and isotopically distinct magma batches just prior or during the eruption has been found comparison with the exposed ci deposits has permitted reconstruction of variable eruption phases and related magma withdrawal and caldera collapse episodes the eruption was likely to have began with phreatomagmatic explosions followed by the formation of a sustained plinian eruption column fed by the simultaneous extraction from both magma layers towards the end of this phase the upward migration of the fragmentation surface and the decrease in magma eruption rate and or activation of fractures formed an unstable pulsating column that was fed only by the most evolved magma layer this plinian phase was followed by the collapse of the eruption column and the beginning of caldera formation at this stage expanded pyroclastic flows fed by the upper magma layer in the chamber generated during the following major caldera collapse episode the maximum mass discharge rate was reached and both magma layers were tapped generating expanded pyroclastic flows towards the end of the eruption only the deeper and less differentiated magma layer was tapped producing more concentrated pyroclastic flows that traveled short distances

a revision of the structure and stratigraphy of pre green tuff ignimbrites at pantelleria strait of sicily abstract at pantelleria peralkaline silicic magmas were erupted across a range of eruptive typologies and magnitudes pyroclastic flows plinian to strombolian pumice fallout and lava flows in this paper we focus on the intermediate cycle of eruptive activity which is bracketed by ignimbrite units slightly older than the two caldera collapses which marked the volcanological activity of the island this age interval 180 85 ka was punctuated by six ignimbrite forming eruptions silicic and variably peralkaline for a cumulative erupted magma volume of approximately 6 km 3 dense rock equivalent based on new 40 ar 39 ar na k feldspar ages and petrographic data we propose an updated volcanostratigraphic scheme for these welded and rheomorphic ignimbrites that can be summarised as follows i the age of the old la vecchia caldera collapse is now tightly constrained between 140 and 146 ka and the caldera forming eruption can be traced to a lithic rich welded tuff breccia that outcrops in two opposite sectors of the island south west and north east ii four ignimbrite units previously considered unrelated are now merged in two distinct eruptive paroxysmal events at 107 and 85 ka in particular the 85 ka eruptive event is comparable in magnitude to the younger caldera forming green tuff plinian eruption iii the recurrence patterns of the 107 and 85 ka eruptions compared to the green tuff allow us to qualitatively assess that the climax in production of low temperature silicic and peralkaline melt was focused in the age interval 85 45 ka

the upper and lower nisyros pumices revisions to the mediterranean tephrostratigraphic record based on micron beam glass geochemistry abstract the greek island of nisyros is the source of tephra found in distal settings throughout the aegean in this contribution we define geochemical fingerprints for the lower and upper pumice eruptions of nisyros based on micron beam major empa and trace la icp ms element data these two eruptions are compositionally distinct from each other the high phenocryst content of proximal lower and upper pumice tephra means that the differences between the two magmas are masked in whole rock analyses we demonstrate that all previous reports of distal marine and continental tephras correspond to the younger upper pumice not the older lower pumice this has important implications for the marine tephrochronology of the mediterranean and for the age of the upper and lower pumice eruptions we suggest an age of at least 47 ka for the upper pumice and an older unconstrained age for the lower pumice

stratigraphy and significance of brown tuffs on the aeolian islands southern italy abstract brown tuffs bt are volcaniclastic ash deposits prominently represented in the stratigraphic profiles of all the aeolian islands and capo milazzo on the northern coast of sicily detailed stratigraphy and tephrochronology together with available radiometric ages suggest that they were emplaced over a long time interval spanning from the end of the last interglacial period ca 80 ka bp up to 4 5 ka bp age of the overlying punte nere pyroclastic products on vulcano the most complete bt succession is documented on lipari where 14 distinct and successive units are subdivided by the interbedding of widespread tephra layers local volcanic products paleosols and epiclastic deposits and the occurrence of local erosive surfaces inter island occurrence of ischia tephra a widely known tephra layer in the aeolian archipelago dated at 56 ka bp and monte guardia pyroclastics from lipari dated at 22 20 ka bp subdivides the bt succession in upper ubt intermediate ibt and lower bt units lbt which can be correlated at regional level the lbt was emplaced between 80 and 56 ka bp the ibt between 56 and 22 ka bp and the ubt between 20 and 4 5 ka bp on the basis of stratigraphy similarity in lithology and textural features morphology of glass fragments composition and consistency of thickness and grain size variations ubt units correlate with piano grotte dei rossi tuffs on vulcano island they were generated by pulsating hydromagmatic explosive activity giving rise to pyroclastic density currents spreading laterally from a source located inside the la fossa caldera on vulcano island composition is in agreement with this hypothesis since ubt compositional features match those of vulcano magmas erupted in that period the effect of co ignimbrite ash clouds or associated fallout processes from sustained eruptive columns is seen to explain the presence of ubt in areas further away from the suggested source e g salina and lipari islands and capo milazzo the origin of ubt exposed on panarea island is still a matter of debate due to contrasting compositional data due to large uniformity of lithological textural and componentry characters with respect to the ubt the lower portions of the bt succession lbt ibt are considered to be the result of recurrent large scale hydromagmatic eruptions of similar type moreover for the ibt units the correlation with monte molineddo 3 pyroclastics of vulcano island on the basis of lithological compositional and stratigraphic matching again suggests source s related to the vulcano plumbing system and located within the la fossa caldera

the campanian ignimbrite y5 tephra layer a regional stratigraphic marker for isotope stage 3 deposits in the lower danube region romania a number of volcanic ash layers embedded in pleistocene loess and fluvial deposits of the lower jiu and olt valleys in south western romania have been analyzed for glass chemical compositions and general chronological relations the wds epma chemical analyses document remarkably similar major and minor element compositions at the four investigated sites and total alkali silica diagrams ascribe these volcanic ashes a phonolite to trachyte affinity a comparison with the quaternary carpathian volcanism chemical data refutes this volcanic field as the primary source even though earlier works have tentatively taken some of these volcanic ashes as evidence of volcanic activity in this particular field instead the chemical data suggest an origin in the campi flegrei volcanic province in italy and a comparison with chemical data from proximal and distal outcrops of the campanian ignimbrite y5 tephra confirm that the ash layers presented here are distal occurrences of this widespread tephra layer the campanian ignimbrite y5 tephra is the product of one of the largest late quaternary explosive events in the mediterranean and is consistently dated elsewhere to about 39 40 ka it is one of the most important chronologic stratigraphic markers of western eurasia that provide an independent basis for establishing age depth relationships for the embedding deposits optical luminescence age estimates obtained at two of the investigated sites further confirm that these volcanic ash occurrences represent a regionally synchronous depositional event around 40 ka these results highlight the important role that the campanian ignimbrite y5 tephra could play as marker horizon at sub continental scale providing that more potential tephra locations such as these from the pleistocene sedimentary deposits in the lower danube region are chemically and chronologically constrained

major and trace element characterization of tephra layers offshore pantelleria island insights into the last 200 ka of volcanic activity and contribution to the mediterranean tephrochronology a detailed tephrochronological study was carried out on the deep sea core collected from site 963a in the sicily channel during odp leg 160 the chronology of the succession is provided by an age depth model based on isotope stratigraphy and quantitative eco biostratigraphy major trace and rare earth element content was obtained on single glass grains through electron probe micro analysis and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques from six well preserved tephra layers characterized by a discrete thickness found along the succession these deposits were correlated with the volcanic activity of pantelleria and dated at 42 5 127 5 128 1 129 1 188 7 and 197 7 ka this detailed chemical characterization of the studied deposits aims to provide a valuable reference database for scientists working on both proximal and distal products erupted at pantelleria island during the late pleistocene this study moreover offers the opportunity to better identify pantelleria related marker tephras within the tephrochronological framework of the central and eastern mediterranean area copyright 2012 john wiley sons ltd

a 90 000 200 000 yrs marine tephra record of italian volcanic activity in the central mediterranean sea abstract a detailed tephrochronological study was undertaken in three deep sea cores collected in the tyrrhenian and ionian seas the age and the origin of the marine tephra were inferred from oxygen isotope records of foraminifera and from major element compositions of glass shards seventy one eruptions were detected in the time interval 90 000 200 000 yrs during which the volcanoes of the roman and campanian regions and of the southern italy were in activity this is attested by the consistency of the geochemical compositions of both marine and terrestrial deposits most of the marine tephra consisted in trachytes and phonolites characterizing a roman and campanian origin several tephra were proposed as key horizons for proximal and distal sediments among them one tephra originating from mount etna 149 300 yrs and five tephra from pantelleria island 130 000 yrs 163 600 yrs 192 500 yrs 197 400 yrs and 198 400 yrs were northerly dispersed several other key horizons originated from the campanian or roman provinces were detected as far as 1000 km from the vents

revised tuning of ocean drilling program site 964 and kc01b mediterranean and implications for the δ18o tephra calcareous nannofossil and geomagnetic reversal chronologies of the past 1 1 myr 1 high resolution color reflectance records of kc01 and kc01b calabrian ridge ionian sea are presented and compared with a modified spliced high resolution color reflectance record of ocean drilling program odp site 964 this comparison revealed that kc01b is characterized by intensive deformation between 27 and 28 5 m piston depth and that some sapropels are tectonically reduced in thickness moreover the piston coring has caused considerable stretching in the top of kc01 and kc01b using a new splice of odp site 964 as guide previous astronomical tuned timescales of kc01b and odp site 964 were evaluated this evaluation resulted in a new sapropel based astronomical timescale for the last 1 1 myr the new timescale implies a much more uniform change in sedimentation rate for the ionian sea cores two prominent excursions to lighter values in the 18o record of the planktonic foraminiferal species globigerinoides ruber occur during marine isotopic stages 12 and 16 applying the new timescale these shifts correspond with maxima in obliquity and are punctuated by minima in the precession cycle they are absent in global ice volume records and are interpreted as reflecting a summer low salinity surface water lens that floats on top of extremely saline intermediate and deep waters at times of the very low sea levels during these glacial periods all biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic events found in kc01b and odp site 964 were re dated according to the new timescale and the ages of 33 tephra layers were reviewed the new ages for the calabrian ridge 2 and 3 magnetic events in the brunhes are concordant with minima in the global sint800 composite record derived from worldwide deep sea records of relative paleointensity and have been attributed to the big lost and la palma excursions respectively

fluctuations of the campanian explosive volcanic activity south italy during the past 190 000 years as determined by marine tephrochronology abstract a statistical analysis of the time variations of the frequency of explosive events is derived from the detailed record of marine tephra in deep sea sediment cores of the central mediterranean sea the sequence of campanian events south italy shows several volcanic pulses during the past 190 000 years which were compared to the continental data these episodes which match the different phases of the geochemical evolution of magmas in this area occurred with a 23 kyr periodicity this may be related to the life time of the magma chambers involved in this area with such time cycles precessional forcing of the volcanic activity and or glacio eustatic pressure variations may be envisaged as causal phenomena

the breccia museo formation campi flegrei southern italy geochronology chemostratigraphy and relationship with the campanian ignimbrite eruption the breccia museo is one of the most debated volcanic formations of the campi flegrei volcanic district the deposit made up of six distinctive stratigraphic units has been interpreted by some as the proximal facies of the major caldera forming campanian ignimbrite eruption and by others as the product of several more recent independent and localized events new geochemical and chemostratigraphical data and ar ar age determinations for several units of the breccia museo deposits 39 ka correlate well with the campanian ignimbrite forming eruption the chemical zoning of the breccia museo deposits is interpreted here to be a consequence of a three stage event that tapped a vertically zoned trachytic magma chamber

improved age modelling and high precision age estimates of late quaternary tephras for accurate palaeoclimate reconstruction abstract the role of tephrochronology as a dating and stratigraphic tool in precise palaeoclimate and environmental reconstruction has expanded significantly in recent years the power of tephrochronology rests on the fact that a tephra layer can stratigraphically link records at the resolution of as little as a few years and that the most precise age for a particular tephra can be imported into any site where it is found in order to maximise the potential of tephras for this purpose it is necessary to have the most precise and robustly tested age estimate possible available for key tephras given the varying number and quality of dates associated with different tephras it is important to be able to build age models to test competing tephra dates recent advances in bayesian age modelling of dates in sequence have radically extended our ability to build such stratigraphic age models as an example of the potential here we use bayesian methods now widely applied to examine the dating of some key late quaternary tephras from italy these are the agnano monte spina tephra amst the neapolitan yellow tuff nyt and the agnano pomici principali app and all of them have multiple estimates of their true age further we use the bayesian approaches to generate a revised mixed radiocarbon varve chronology for the important lateglacial section of the lago grande monticchio record as a further illustration of what can be achieved by a bayesian approach with all three tephras we were able to produce viable model ages for the tephra validate the proposed 40 ar 39 ar age ranges for these tephras and provide relatively high precision age models the results of the bayesian integration of dating and stratigraphic information suggest that the current best 95 confidence calendar age estimates for the amst are 4690 4300 cal bp the nyt 14320 13900 cal bp and the app 12380 12140 cal bp

geology of the peralkaline volcano at pantelleria strait of sicily situated in a submerged continental rift pantelleria is a volcanic island with a subaerial eruptive history longer than 300 ka its eruptive behavior edifice morphologies and complex multiunit geologic history are representative of strongly peralkaline centers it is dominated by the 6 km wide cinque denti caldera which formed ca 45 ka ago during eruption of the green tuff a strongly rheomorphic unit zoned from pantellerite to trachyte and consisting of falls surges and pyroclastic flows soon after collapse trachyte lava flows from an intracaldera central vent built a broad cone that compensated isostatically for the volume of the caldera and nearly filled it progressive chemical evolution of the chamber between 45 and 18 ka ago is recorded in the increasing peralkalinity of the youngest lava of the intracaldera trachyte cone and the few lavas erupted northwest of the caldera beginning about 18 ka ago inflation of the chamber opened old ring fractures and new radial fractures along which recently differentiated pantellerite constructed more than 25 pumice cones and shields continued uplift raised the northwest half of the intracaldera trachyte cone 275 m creating the island s present summit montagna grande by trapdoor uplift pantellerite erupted along the trapdoor faults and their hingeline forming numerous pumice cones and agglutinate sheets as well as five lava domes degassing and drawdown of the upper pantelleritic part of a compositionally and thermally stratified magma chamber during this 18 3 ka episode led to entrainment of subjacent crystal rich pantelleritic trachyte magma as crenulate inclusions progressive mixing between host and inclusions resulted in a secular decrease in the degree of evolution of the 0 82 km3 of magma erupted during the episode

volcanological and petrological evolution of vulcano island aeolian arc southern tyrrhenian sea petrological and geochemical data are reported for volcanic rocks from vulcano island the subaerial volcanism 120 ka to present built up a nw se elongated composite structure affected by two intersecting multistage calderas volcanics older than 20 ka consist mostly of high k calc alkaline hkca to shoshonitic sho mafic rocks these magmas interacted significantly with the continental crust which generated variable sr isotopic ratios 0 70412 0 70520 however a major role was also played by input of parental liquids into the magma chamber which prevented further evolution of the magmas hkca sho and potassic ks rocks formed from 20 to 8 ka display a much larger range of sio2 from shoshonites to rhyolites and higher concentrations of incompatible elements with respect to the previous stage sr isotopic ratios show small variations 0 70448 0 70486 mixing of silicic and mafic liquids and fractional crystallization processes fc were the main evolutionary processes during this stage volcanics younger than 8 ka consist of sho and leucite bearing ks mafic rocks with abundant intermediate and silicic products mafic and intermediate rocks display similar incompatible element abundances and sr isotopic ratios as the previous stage volcanics whereas higher 87sr 86sr 0 70494 0 70583 are observed in some rhyolites these products originated from a complex interplay of fc crustal assimilation and magma mixing processes the most mafic rocks show increasing incompatible element abundances rb sr rb ba mg al mg ca and a decrease in large ion lithophile to high field strength element ratios passing from older hkca sho to the younger sho ks volcanics these variations suggest a shifting of magma sources from a slightly metasomatized asthenosphere fertile peridotite to a more strongly metasomatized lithospheric mantle residual peridotite time related petrological and geochemical variations have been used to develop a model for the evolution of the vulcano plumbing system