Building the Record of late Miocene to Pleistocene Explosive Activity in the Kurile-Kamchatka Volcanic Arc: Initial Results and Challenges

Large explosive eruptions are among the most extreme natural events and can produce hemispheric or even global catastrophic effects. One of the prerequisites of predicting future giant eruptions is the understanding of sizes and recurrence times of past similar events. Volcanism of the North Pacific arcs is highly explosive, which is attested by large nested calderas and numerous tephra layers in marine and terrestrial sediments..

(Table 1) Mineral composition of 0.100-0.050 mm size fraction from surface layer bottom sediments of the western South China Sea

Distribution of mineral assemblages in sediments of both shelf and continental slope of Vietnam is under consideration. Mineral provinces are recognized and their characteristics are given. Principal regularities of formation of mineral composition in marine sediments (with their supply provinces mainly located in the subequatorial belt) are shown on the basis of multivariate statistics methods (correlation, factor, cluster, regression and discriminant analyses). It is established that influence of climate on formation of the mineral assemblages is noticeable, but not determining