A North Atlantic tephrostratigraphical framework for 130-60 ka b2k : new tephra discoveries, marine-based correlations, and future challenges

• Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews
• Main Authors: Davies, S.M., Abbott, P.M., Meara, R.H., Pearce, N.J.G., Austin, W.E.N., Chapman, M.R., Svensson, A., Bigler, M., Rasmussen, T.L., Rasmussen, S.O., Farmer, E.J.
• Other Authors: NERC, University of St Andrews. School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St Andrews. School of Geography & Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland, University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews. St Andrews Sustainability Institute, University of St Andrews. Geography & Sustainable Development
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Tephra; Cryptotephra; Tephrostratigraphy; Greenland ice-cores; North Atlantic marine cores; Iceland; Tephra correlations; Glass-shard analysis; Rapid climate changes; GB Physical geography; BDC; R2C; SDG 14 - Life Below Water; GB; Greenland; Ner; Greenland ice cores; ice core; NGRIP; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6099; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.03.024; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379114001140?via%3Dihub#appsec1

The new results presented here have been supported by NERC funding (NE/FE020600/1, NE/F02116X/1, NE/F021445/1, NE/G005230/1). The overall synthesis and review of published data represents the culmination of several years work and support from NERC: NE/D00416/1, NER/S/A/2995/13417, the European Research Council (TRACE project) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement no. [259253] and EU-COST ACTION INTIMATE (ESO907). Building chronological frameworks for proxy sequences spanning 130-60 ka b2k is plagued by difficulties and uncertainties. Recent developments in the North Atlantic region, however, affirm the potential offered by tephrochronology and specifically the search for cryptotephra. Here we review the potential offered by tephrostratigraphy for sequences spanning 130-60 ka b2k. We combine newly identified cryptotephra deposits from the NGRIP ice-core and a marine core from the Iceland Basin with previously published data from the ice and marine realms to construct the first tephrostratigraphical framework for this time-interval. Forty-three tephra or cryptotephra deposits are incorporated into this framework; twenty three tephra deposits are found in the Greenland ice-cores, including nine new NGRIP tephras, and twenty separate deposits are preserved in various North Atlantic marine sequences. Major, minor and trace element results are presented for the new NGRIP horizons together with age estimates based on their position within the ice-core record. Basaltic tephras of Icelandic origin dominate the framework with only eight tephras of rhyolitic composition found. New results from marine core MD99-2253 also illustrate some of the complexities and challenges of assessing the depositional integrity of marine cryptotephra deposits. Tephra-based correlations in the marine environment provide independent tie-points for this time-interval and highlight the potential of widening the application of tephrochronology. Further investigations, however, are required, ...