Advancing Santorini’s tephrostratigraphy: new glass geochemical data and improved marine-terrestrial tephra correlations for the past ∼360 kyrs

Type Article
Date 2020-01
Language English
Author(s) Wulf Sabine1, 2, Keller Jörg3, Satow Christopher4, Gertisser Ralf5, Kraml Michael3, Grant Katharine M.6, Appelt Oona7, Vakhrameeva Polina2, Koutsodendris Andreas2, Hardiman Mark1, Schulz Hartmut8, Pross Jörg2
Affiliation(s) 1 : School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
2 : Paleoenvironmental Dynamics Group, Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
3 : Department of Mineralogy-Geochemistry, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
4 : Department of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom
5 : School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, Keele University, Keele, United Kingdom
6 : Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
7 : Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 3.6 Chemistry and Physics of Earth Materials, Potsdam, Germany
8 : Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Source Earth-science Reviews (0012-8252) (Elsevier BV), 2020-01 , Vol. 200 , P. 102964 (19p.)
DOI 10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102964
WOS© Times Cited 26
Keyword(s) Santorini, EPMA glass chemistry, Proximal tephra deposits, Marine tephrostratigraphy, Land-sea correlations, Eastern Mediterranean region
Abstract

The island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea is one of the world’s most violent active volcanoes. Santorini has produced numerous highly explosive eruptions over at least the past ∼360 kyrs that are documented by the island’s unique proximal tephra record. However, the lack of precise eruption ages and comprehensive glass geochemical datasets for proximal tephras has long hindered the development of a detailed distal tephrostratigraphy for Santorini eruptions. In light of these requirements, this study develops a distal tephrostratigraphy for Santorini covering the past ∼360 kyrs, which represents a major step forward towards the establishment of a tephrostratigraphic framework for the Eastern Mediterranean region. We present new EPMA glass geochemical data of proximal tephra deposits from twelve Plinian and numerous Inter-Plinian Santorini eruptions and use this dataset to establish assignments of 28 distal marine tephras from three Aegean Sea cores (KL49, KL51 and LC21) to specific volcanic events. Based on interpolation of sapropel core chronologies we provide new eruption age estimates for correlated Santorini tephras, including dates for major Plinian eruptions, Upper Scoriae 1 (80.8 ± 2.9 ka), Vourvoulos (126.5 ± 2.9 ka), Middle Pumice (141.0 ± 2.6 ka), Cape Thera (156.9 ± 2.3 ka), Lower Pumice 2 (176.7 ± 0.6 ka), Lower Pumice 1 (185.7 ± 0.7 ka), and Cape Therma 3 (200.2 ± 0.9 ka), but also for 17 Inter-Plinian events. Older Plinian and Inter-Plinian activity between ∼310 ka and 370 ka, documented in the distal terrestrial setting of Tenaghi Philippon (NE Greece), is independently dated by palynostratigraphy and complements the distal Santorini tephrostratigraphic record.

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Publisher's official version 64 10 MB Open access
Supplementary material S2: EPMA glass data of Santorini proximal tephra deposits analysed in this study. 514 KB Open access
Supplementary material S3: EPMA glass data of marine tephras from cores KL49 and KL51 (Schwarz, 2000), and LC21 (Satow et al., 2015, in review). 392 KB Open access
Supplementary material S4: Age-depth models for marine cores M40/4-65 (KL49) and M40/4-67 (KL51). 13 KB Open access
Supplementary Material S1 26 36 MB Open access
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How to cite 

Wulf Sabine, Keller Jörg, Satow Christopher, Gertisser Ralf, Kraml Michael, Grant Katharine M., Appelt Oona, Vakhrameeva Polina, Koutsodendris Andreas, Hardiman Mark, Schulz Hartmut, Pross Jörg (2020). Advancing Santorini’s tephrostratigraphy: new glass geochemical data and improved marine-terrestrial tephra correlations for the past ∼360 kyrs. Earth-science Reviews, 200, 102964 (19p.). Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102964 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00588/70039/