Magnetic properties of the Old Crow tephra: Identification of a complex iron titanium oxide mineralogy

International audience[1] The mineralogy and grain-size distribution of the Fe-Ti oxide population of the Old Crow tephra bed, outcropping at the Halfway House loess deposit in central Alaska, are characterized through multiple low-and high-temperature magnetization experiments. The characterization is facilitated by heavy liquid separation of the bulk sample into a low-density ( 0.8 and may play an equally important role as magnetic indicator of titanomagnetite. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability of low-temperature magnetism to locate a 1 mm thick tephra bed dispersed in loess over 10 cm depth, through the identification of very low concentrations of a titanohematite phase with y = 0.9. The potential for advancing regional correlation of sedimentary deposits through the identification of Fe-Ti oxides common to tephra beds by low-temperature magnetism is illustrated in this study. INDEX TERMS: 1540 Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism: Rock and mineral magnetism; 1512 Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism: Environmental magnetism; 1519 Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism: Magnetic mineralogy and petrology; 8404 Volcanology: Ash deposits; 5109 Physical Properties of Rocks: Magnetic and electrical properties; KEYWORDS: low-temperature magnetism, frequency and amplitude dependence of AC susceptibility, ilmenite-hematite and magnetite-ulvospinel solid solution series, tephra, stratigraphic correlatio

Volcanic impacts on peatland microbial communities: A tephropalaeoecological hypothesis-test

Volcanic eruptions affect peatlands around the world, depositing volcanic ash (tephra) and a variety of chemicals including compounds of sulphur. These volcanic impacts may be important for many reasons, in particular sulphur deposition has been shown to suppress peatland methane flux, potentially reinforcing climatic cooling. Experiments have shown that sulphur deposition also forces changes in testate amoeba communities, potentially relating to the reduced methane flux. Large volcanic eruptions in regions with extensive peatlands are relatively rare so it is difficult to assess the extent to which volcanic eruptions affect peatland microbial communities; palaeoecological analyses across tephra layers provide a means to resolve this uncertainty. In this study, testate amoebae were analysed across multiple monoliths from a peatland in southern Alaska containing two tephras, probably representing the 1883 eruption of Augustine Volcano and a 20th Century eruption of Redoubt Volcano. Results showed relatively distinct and often statistically significant changes in testate amoeba community coincident with tephra layers which largely matched the response found in experimental studies of sulphur deposition. The results suggest volcanic impacts on peatland microbial communities which might relate to changes in methane flux

Tephrochronology and its application: A review

Tephrochronology (from tephra, Gk ‘ashes’) is a unique stratigraphic method for linking, dating, and synchronizing geological, palaeoenvironmental, or archaeological sequences or events. As well as utilising the Law of Superposition, tephrochronology in practise requires tephra deposits to be characterized (or ‘fingerprinted’) using physical properties evident in the field together with those obtained from laboratory analyses. Such analyses include mineralogical examination (petrography) or geochemical analysis of glass shards or crystals using an electron microprobe or other analytical tools including laser-ablation-based mass spectrometry or the ion microprobe. The palaeoenvironmental or archaeological context in which a tephra occurs may also be useful for correlational purposes. Tephrochronology provides greatest utility when a numerical age obtained for a tephra or cryptotephra is transferrable from one site to another using stratigraphy and by comparing and matching inherent compositional features of the deposits with a high degree of likelihood. Used this way, tephrochronology is an age-equivalent dating method that provides an exceptionally precise volcanic-event stratigraphy. Such age transfers are valid because the primary tephra deposits from an eruption essentially have the same short-lived age everywhere they occur, forming isochrons very soon after the eruption (normally within a year). As well as providing isochrons for palaeoenvironmental and archaeological reconstructions, tephras through their geochemical analysis allow insight into volcanic and magmatic processes, and provide a comprehensive record of explosive volcanism and recurrence rates in the Quaternary (or earlier) that can be used to establish time-space relationships of relevance to volcanic hazard analysis. The basis and application of tephrochronology as a central stratigraphic and geochronological tool for Quaternary studies are presented and discussed in this review. Topics covered include principles of tephrochronology, defining isochrons, tephra nomenclature, mapping and correlating tephras from proximal to distal locations at metre- through to sub-millimetre-scale, cryptotephras, mineralogical and geochemical fingerprinting methods, numerical and statistical correlation techniques, and developments and applications in dating including the use of flexible depositional age-modelling techniques based on Bayesian statistics. Along with reference to wide-ranging examples and the identification of important recent advances in tephrochronology, such as the development of new geoanalytical approaches that enable individual small glass shards to be analysed near-routinely for major, trace, and rare-earth elements, potential problems such as miscorrelation, erroneous-age transfer, and tephra reworking and taphonomy (especially relating to cryptotephras) are also examined. Some of the challenges for future tephrochronological studies include refining geochemical analytical methods further, improving understanding of cryptotephra distribution and preservation patterns, improving age modelling including via new or enhanced radiometric or incremental techniques and Bayesian-derived models, evaluating and quantifying uncertainty in tephrochronology to a greater degree than at present, constructing comprehensive regional databases, and integrating tephrochronology with spatially referenced environmental and archaeometric data into 3-D reconstructions using GIS and geostatistics

Stratigraphy and palaeoclimatic significance of Late Quaternary loess–palaeosol sequences of the Last Interglacial–Glacial cycle in central Alaska

Loess is one of the most widespread subaerialdeposits in Alaska and adjacent Yukon Territory and may have a history that goes back 3 Ma. Based on mineralogy and major and trace element chemistry, central Alaskan loess has a composition that is distinctive from other loess bodies of the world, although it is quartz-dominated. Central Alaskan loess was probably derived from a variety of rock types, including granites, metabasalts and schists. Detailed stratigraphic data and pedologic criteria indicate that, contrary to early studies, many palaeosols are present in central Alaskan loess sections. The buried soils indicate that loess sedimentation was episodic, or at least rates of deposition decreased to the point where pedogenesis could keep ahead of aeolian input. As in China, loess deposition and pedogenesis are likely competing processes and neither stops completely during either phase of the loess/soil formation cycle. Loess deposition in central Alaska took place before, and probably during the last interglacial period, during stadials of the mid-Wisconsin period, during the last glacial period and during the Holocene. An unexpected result of our geochronological studies is that only moderate loess deposition took place during the last glacial period. Our studies lead us to conclude that vegetation plays a key role in loess accumulation in Alaska. Factors favouring loess production are enhanced during glacial periods but factors that favour loess accumulation are diminished during glacial periods. The most important of these is vegetation; boreal forest serves as an effective loess trap, but sparsely distributed herb tundra does not. Thus, thick accumulations of loess should not be expected where tundra vegetation was dominant and this is borne out by modern studies near the treeline in central Alaska. Much of the stratigraphic diversity of North American loess, including that found in the Central Lowlands, the Great Plains, and Alaska is explained by a new model that emphasizes the relative importance of loess production factors versus loess accumulation factors