학술논문

Widespread tephra dispersal and ignimbrite emplacement from a subglacial volcano (Torfajokull, Iceland)
Document Type
Academic Journal
Source
Geology (Boulder). 47(6):577-580
Subject
24|Quaternary geology
Cenozoic
cores
Europe
geochemistry
Iceland
igneous rocks
marine sediments
Pleistocene
pyroclastics
Quaternary
rhyolitic composition
sediments
southern Iceland
subglacial environment
tephrostratigraphy
Thorsmork Ignimbrite
Torfajokull
transport
upper Pleistocene
volcanic rocks
volcanism
volcanoes
Western Europe
Language
English
ISSN
0091-7613
Abstract
The tephra dispersal mechanisms of rhyolitic glaciovolcanic eruptions are little known, but can be investigated through the correlation of eruptive products across multiple depositional settings. Using geochemistry and geochronology, we correlate a regionally important Pleistocene tephra horizon-the rhyolitic component of North Atlantic Ash Zone II (II-RHY-1)-and the Thorsmork Ignimbrite with rhyolitic tuyas at Torfajokull volcano, Iceland. The eruption breached an ice mass >400 m thick, leading to the widespread dispersal of II-RHY-1 across the North Atlantic and the Greenland ice sheet. Locally, pyroclastic density currents traveled across the ice surface, depositing the variably welded Thorsmork Ignimbrite beyond the ice margin and ∼30 km from source. The widely dispersed products of this eruption represent a valuable isochronous tie line between terrestrial, marine, and ice-core paleoenvironmental records. Using the tephra horizon, estimates of ice thickness and extent derived from the eruption deposits can be directly linked to the regional climate archive, which records the eruption at the onset of Greenland Stadial 15.2.