Increased rates of large-magnitude explosive eruptions in Japan in the late Neogene and Quaternary

Tephra layers in marine sediment cores from scientific ocean drilling largely record high-magnitude silicic explosive eruptions in the Japan arc for up to the last 20 million years. Analysis of the thickness variation with distance of 180 tephra layers from a global dataset suggests that the majority of the visible tephra layers used in this study are the products of caldera-forming eruptions with magnitude (M) >6, considering their distances at the respective drilling sites to their likely volcanic sources. Frequency of visible tephra layers in cores indicates a marked increase in rates of large magnitude explosive eruptions at ~8 Ma, 6–4 Ma and further increase after ~2 Ma. These changes are attributed to major changes in tectonic plate interactions. Lower rates of large magnitude explosive volcanism in the Miocene are related to a strike-slip dominated boundary (and temporary cessation or deceleration of subduction) between the Philippine Sea Plate and southwest Japan, combined with the possibility that much of the arc in northern Japan was submerged beneath sea level partly due to previous tectonic extension of Northern Honshu related to formation of the Sea of Japan. Changes in plate motions and subduction dynamics during the ~8 Ma to present period led to (1) increased arc-normal subduction in southwest Japan (and resumption of arc volcanism) and (2) shift from extension to compression of the upper plate in northeast Japan, leading to uplift, crustal thickening and favourable conditions for accumulation of the large volumes of silicic magma needed for explosive caldera-forming eruptions

Tephra dispersal during the Campanian Ignimbrite (Italy) eruption: implications for ultra-distal ash transport during the large caldera-forming eruption

The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption dispersed ash over much of the central eastern Mediterranean Sea and eastern Europe. The eruption started with a Plinian phase that was followed by a series of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) associated with the collapse of the Plinian column and the caldera. The glass compositions of the deposits span a wide geochemical range but the Plinian fallout and PDCs associated with column collapse, the Lower Pumice Flow, only erupted the most evolved compositions. The later PDCs, the Breccia Museo and Upper Pumice Flow, erupted during and after caldera collapse, tap a less evolved component, and intermediate compositions that represent mixing between the end-members. The range of glass compositions in the Campanian Ignimbrite deposits from sites across the central and eastern Mediterranean Sea allow us to trace the dispersal of the different phases of this caldera-forming eruption. We map the fallout from the Plinian column and the plumes of fine material associated with the PDCs (co-PDCs) across the entire dispersal area. This cannot be done using the usual grain-size methods as deposits in these distal regions do not retain characteristics that allow attribution to either the Plinian or co-PDC phases. The glass compositions of the tephra at ultra-distal sites (>1500 km from the vent) match those of the uppermost PDC units, suggesting that most of the ultra-distal dispersal was associated with the late co-PDC plume that was generated during caldera collapse