Milankovitch frequencies in tephra records at volcanic arcs: The relation of kyr-scale cyclic variations in volcanism to global climate changes

• Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews
• Main Authors: Kutterolf, Steffen, Schindlbeck, Julie C., Jegen, Marion, Freundt, Armin, Straub, Susanne M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44913/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44913/1/Kutterolf.pdf; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44913/7/JQSR_2018_152_Revision.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.11.004

Highlights The increase in volcanic activity after the last glacial maximum observed on Iceland has led to one of the most fascinating hypothesis in science in the last decades: that deglaciation may force volcanism. We: - Re-analyzed four longer tephra records with the same statistical method and demonstrated that all contain the ∼41 kyr and ∼100 kyr Millankovitch periodicities. - The frequency spectra of the tephra and δ18O records are significantly correlated supporting the hypothesis that orbital-driven global climate changes interact with the volcanic eruption frequency regionally and globally. - However, the simultaneous analysis of the four best-characterized tephra records shows that correlations and associated time lags suffer from a number of uncertainties including the nature and quality of tephra time series, a wide range in geographic latitudes and geological settings, as well as applied statistical methods Therefore more precise tephra time series (preservation and age optimized) from different regions (glaciated versus non-glaciated) and geological settings (island arcs, continental arcs, intraplate) are needed together with standardized statistical analysis to decipher the impact of these factors on a global perspective of how climate may control volcanism. Abstract The increase in volcanic activity after the last glacial maximum observed on Iceland has led to one of the most fascinating hypothesis in science in the last decades: that deglaciation may force volcanism. Consequently, tephrostratigraphic records of sufficient length that cover multiple glacial cycles have been used to test whether such relationships hold systematically through the Quaternary. Here we review such tephra records that have been linked with climate proxy records such as δ18O in marine sediments, which is a measure of sea-level change and which is thought to be orbitally forced, as it exhibits the characteristic Milankovitch periodicities of precession (∼23 kyr), obliquity (∼41 kyr) and eccentricity (∼100 kyr). ...