Tephrostratigraphical evidence for the timing of pleistocene explosive volcanism at Jan Mayen

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Author: Hunt, John B.
• Other Authors: Royal Geographical Society, Institute of British Geographics
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2004
• Subjects: Greenland; Iceland; Jan Mayen; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.839; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.839; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.839

Abstract Wavelength dispersive (WDS) electron microprobe analysis of glass shards recovered from Pleistocene sediments at Ocean Drilling Program Hole 907A (Leg 151) has been used to define key Pleistocene tephrochronostratigraphical markers for the Greenland–Iceland–Norwegian (GIN) seas. Two tephras have particularly distinctive geochemistry, making them useful as marker horizons in cores from the Iceland Plateau, and potentially further afield. These tephras enable the construction of a sedimentation rate history that indicates reduced sediment deposition in the mid‐Brunhes magnetochron, possibly through reduced carbonate preservation. No significant geochemical weathering of the Iceland Plateau tephra sequence has occurred. The geochemical signature of a key tephra, dated to 577–640 ka, can be attributed to the Jan Mayen rock suite, demonstrating unambiguously the explosive potential of Jan Mayen and its potential to contribute to the North Atlantic tephra record. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.