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Detailed investigation of a Lower Miocene Plinian pyroclastic sequence that crops out in the Bükk Foreland Volcanic Area (BFVA) in Northern Hungary is presented here. The studied eruptive products are part of a ca. 50 metres thick pyroclastic succession comprising of a basal ignimbrite that is covered by stratified pyroclastic unit including a topmost ignimbrite (Mangó ignimbrite unit, part of the Lower Pyroclastic Complex). The investigated pyroclastic unit is part of the Mangó ignimbrite unit, and consists of a pyroclastic fallout deposit, a ground-surge deposit, and an ignimbrite, all indicating a complete Plinian eruption phase. This pyroclastic succession has been identified in three locations, which crops out along a ~20 km long, SW--NE transect in the BFVA (two in the western, and one in the eastern part). The pyroclastic rocks in these sites are correlated well on the basis of the lithologically and texturally similar layers and their identical field volcanological properties. The correlation is also supported by the paleomagnetic signature of the two ignimbrites (upper ignimbrite - declination: 275-302°, lower ignimbrite with overprint magnetization -- declination: 320-334°). The paleomagnetic directions of the stratigraphically upper ignimbrite suggest that this sequence belongs to the oldest known pyroclastic rock assemblages of the BFVA (Lower Pyroclastic Complex, deposited between 18.5 and 21 Ma according to previously published K/Ar dating results in good agreement with paleomagnetic measurements). Based on proximal-to-distal variations in the grain size of the pyroclastic fallout deposit (with maximal thickness is 71 cm), a potential source region to the east (or northeast, or southeast) of the BFVA has been inferred in a relatively close distance (~5-15 km). The (north)eastward-located source region is also supported by comparison of the characteristics of the studied fallout deposit with the spatial distribution of selected Plinian fallout tephra from worldwide examples using their digitalized isopach maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cerro Toledo Formation (CTF), a series of intracaldera rhyolitic dome complexes and their associated extracaldera tephras and epiclastic sedimentary deposits, records the dynamic interplay between volcanic, tectonic, and geomorphic processes that were occurring along the western margin of the Rio Grande rift between major caldera-forming eruptions of the Bandelier Tuff 1.65–1.26 Ma. The Alamo Canyon and Pueblo Canyon Members differ significantly despite deposition within a few kilometers of each other on the Pajarito Plateau. These differences highlight spatial distinctions in vent sources, eruptive styles, and depositional environments along the eastern side of the Jemez Mountains volcanic field during this ca. 400,000 year interval. Intercalated pyroclastic fall deposits and sandstones of the Pueblo Canyon Member reflect deposition with a basin. Thick Alamo Canyon Member deposits of block-and-ash-flow tuff and pyroclastic fall deposits fill a paleovalley carved into coarse grained sedimentary units reflecting deposition along the mountain front. Chemistry and ages of glass from fall deposits together with clast lithologies of sedimentary units, allow correlation of outcrops, subsurface units, and sources. Dates on pyroclastic fall deposits from Alamo Canyon record deep incision into the underlying Otowi Member in the southern part of the Pajarito Plateau within 100 k.y. of the Toledo caldera-forming eruption. Reconstruction of the CTF surface shows that this period of rapid incision was followed by aggradation where sediments largely filled pre-existing paleocanyons. Complex sequences within the upper portion of the Otowi Member in outcrop and in the subsurface record changes in the style of eruptive activity during the waning stages of the Toledo caldera-forming eruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last Plinian-type eruption of Volcán de Colima, Mexico, occurred in 1913; this resulted in the removal of the top 100 m of the edifice and the deposition of a tephra layer that blanketed the slopes of the Colima Volcanic Complex (CVC). Road-cuts on the flanks of the nearby Nevado de Colima edifice expose pre-1913 air-fall tephra, pyroclastic flow and ash-rich surge deposits resulting from numerous highly explosive events throughout the Holocene. The majority of the pumice and scoria fallout deposits are medium-K subalkaline basaltic andesite and andesite in composition, defining a clear major element differentiation trend. In contrast, three newly discovered scoria fallout deposits are high-K subalkaline, transitional to alkaline, basaltic andesite in composition and are characterized by the presence of phlogopite; these deposits have high MgO (up to 7·9 wt %), K2O (up to 2·6 wt %) and P2O5 (up to 0·67 wt %) contents. They are also strongly enriched in fluid- and melt-mobile large ion lithophile elements (LILE; Rb, Ba, K, Sr and Th) and light REE (LREE; La, Ce, Pr and Nd) relative to the majority of the Colima tephra fallout deposits. Strontium and Nd isotope systematics reveal that the high-K mafic scoria have more radiogenic Sr (87Sr/86Sr = 0·70365–0·70408) and less radiogenic Nd (143Nd/144Nd = 0·51279–0·51294) compared with the majority of the subalkaline tephras (87Sr/86Sr = 0·70338–0·70371 and 143Nd/144Nd = 0·51290–0·51295). Two-component mixing models, using whole-rock geochemical data, indicate the importance of magma mixing in the petrogenesis of the Colima magmas, with addition of up to 50% by volume of an alkaline mafic magma component in the most potassic magmas. This is supported by mineral chemistry and textural data, which reveal multiple episodes of decompression and magma mingling within a shallow crustal magma storage region. The presence of these potassic tephra fall deposits among the otherwise prevailing medium-K subalkaline stratigraphy indicates that pulses of K-rich alkaline mafic magmas periodically enter the CVC plumbing system on timescales of a few thousand years and may trigger Plinian explosive eruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The well-documented 1883 eruption of Krakatau volcano (Indonesia) offers an opportunity to couple the eruption's history with the tsunami record. The aim of this paper is not to re-analyse the scenario for the 1883 eruption but to demonstrate that the study of tsunami deposits provides information for reconstructing past eruptions. Indeed, though the characteristics of volcanogenic tsunami deposits are similar to those of other tsunami deposits, they may include juvenile material (e.g. fresh pumice) or be interbedded with distal pyroclastic deposits (ash fall, surges), due to their simultaneity with the eruption. Five kinds of sedimentary and volcanic facies related to the 1883 events were identified along the coasts of Java and Sumatra: (1) bioclastic tsunami sands and (2) pumiceous tsunami sands, deposited respectively before and during the Plinian phase (26-27 August); (3) rounded pumice lapilli reworked by tsunami; (4) pumiceous ash fall deposits and (5) pyroclastic surge deposits (only in Sumatra). The stratigraphic record on the coasts of Java and Sumatra, which agrees particularly well with observations of the 1883 events, is tentatively linked to the proximal stratigraphy of the eruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]