Search

Combining field reconstruction and landscape evolution modelling can be useful to investigate the relative role of different drivers on catchment response. The Geren Catchment (~45 km2) in western Turkey is suitable for such a study, as it has been influenced by uplift, climate change and lava damming. Four Middle Pleistocene lava flows (40Ar/39Ar- dated from 310 to 175 ka) filled and dammed the Gediz River at the Gediz-Geren confluence, resulting in base-level fluctuations of the otherwise uplift-driven incising river. Field reconstruction and luminescence dating suggest fluvial terraces in the Geren Catchment are capped by Middle Pleistocene aggradational fills. This showed that incision of the Geren trunk stream has been delayed until the end of MIS 5. Subsequently, the catchment has responded to base-level lowering since MIS 4 by 30 m of stepped net incision. Field reconstruction left us with uncertainty on the main drivers of terrace formation. Therefore, we used landscape evolution modelling to investigate catchment response to three scenarios of base-level change: (i) uplift with climate change (rainfall and vegetation based on arboreal pollen); (ii) uplift, climate change and short-lived damming events; (iii) uplift, climate and long-lived damming events. Outputs were evaluated for erosion-aggradation evolution in trunk streams at two different distances from the catchment outlet. Climate influences erosion-aggradation activity in the catchment, although internal feedbacks influence timing and magnitude. Furthermore, lava damming events partly control if and where these climate-driven aggradations occur. Damming thus leaves a legacy on current landscape evolution. Catchment response to long-duration damming events corresponds best with field reconstruction and dating. The combination of climate and base level explains a significant part of the landscape evolution history of the Geren Catchment. By combining model results with fieldwork, additional conclusions on landscape evolution could be drawn. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean islands, seamounts and volcanic ridges are thought to form above mantle plumes. Yet, this mechanism cannot explain many volcanic features on the Pacific Ocean floor and some might instead be caused by cracks in the oceanic crust linked to the reorganization of plate motions. A distinctive bend in the Hawaiian-Emperor volcanic chain has been linked to changes in the direction of motion of the Pacific Plate, movement of the Hawaiian plume, or a combination of both. However, these links are uncertain because there is no independent record that precisely dates tectonic events that affected the Pacific Plate. Here we analyse the geochemical characteristics of lava samples collected from the Musicians Ridges, lines of volcanic seamounts formed close to the Hawaiian-Emperor bend. We find that the geochemical signature of these lavas is unlike typical ocean island basalts and instead resembles mid-ocean ridge basalts. We infer that the seamounts are unrelated to mantle plume activity and instead formed in an extensional setting, due to deformation of the Pacific Plate. 40Ar/39Ar dating reveals that the Musicians Ridges formed during two time windows that bracket the time of formation of the Hawaiian-Emperor bend, 53-52 and 48-47 million years ago. We conclude that the Hawaiian-Emperor bend was formed by plate-mantle reorganization, potentially triggered by a series of subduction events at the Pacific Plate margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lava flows spanning the eruptive record of Graciosa Island (Azores archipelago) and a gabbro xenolith were dated by Ar/Ar in order to constrain the Pleistocene and Holocene volcanic evolution of the island. The results range from 1.05 Ma to 3.9 ka, whereas prior published K-Ar and C ages range from 620 to 2 ka. The formation of the Serra das Fontes shield volcano started at minimum 1.05 Ma, and the magmatic system was active for ca. 600 ky, as suggested by the formation of the gabbro xenolith by magmatic differentiation. Evolved magmas making up the Serra das Fontes-Serra Branca composite volcano were generated at ca. 450 ka. After a period of ca. 110 ky of volcanic inactivity and erosion of volcanic edifices, volcanism was reactivated with the formation of the Vitória Unit NW platform. Later, the development of the Vulcão Central Unit started with the formation of monogenetic cones located to the south of the Serra das Fontes-Serra Branca-Vitória Unit. This volcanism became progressively more evolved and was concentrated in a main eruptive center, forming the Vulcão Central stratovolcano with an age older than 50 ka. The caldera related to this stratovolcano is older than 47 ka and was followed by effusion of basaltic magmas into the caldera, resulting in the formation of a lava lake, which ultimately spilled over the caldera rim at ca. 11 ka. The most recent eruptions on Graciosa formed two small pyroclastic cones within the caldera and the Pico do Timão cone within the Vitória Unit at ca 3.9 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Absolute chronologies of active volcanoes and consequently timescales for eruptive behaviour and magma production form a quantitative basis for understanding the risk of volcanoes. Surprisingly, the youngest records in the geological timescale often prove to be the most elusive when it comes to isotopic dating. Absolute Holocene volcanic records almost exclusively rely on 14C ages measured on fossil wood or other forms of biogenic carbon. However, on volcanic flanks, fossil carbon is often not preserved, and of uncertain origin when present in paleosols. Also, low 14C-volcanic CO2 may have mixed with atmospheric and soil 14C-CO2, potentially causing biased ages. Even when reliable data are available, it is important to have independent corroboration of inferred chronologies as can be obtained in principle using the 40K/40Ar decay system. Here we present results of a 40Ar/39Ar dating study of basaltic groundmass in the products from the Pleistocene – Holocene boundary until the beginning of the historic era for the north-northeastern flank of Stromboli, Aeolian Islands, Italy, identifying a short phase of intensified flank effusive activity 7500 ± 500 a ago, and a maximum age of 4000 ± 900 a for the last flank collapse event that might have caused the formation of the Sciara del Fuoco depression. We expect that under optimum conditions 40Ar/39Ar dating of basaltic groundmass samples can be used more widely for dating Holocene volcanic events. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

multidisciplinary geological and compositional investigation allowed us to reconstruct the occurrence of flank eruptions on the lower NE flank of Stromboli volcano since 15 ka. The oldest flank eruption recognised is Roisa, which occurred at ~15 ka during the Vancori period, and has transitional compositional characteristics between the Vancori and Neostromboli phases. Roisa was followed by the San Vincenzo eruption that took place at ~12 ka during the early stage of Neostromboli period. The eruptive fissure of San Vincenzo gave rise to a large scoria cone located below the village of Stromboli, and generated a lava flow, most of which lies below sea level. Most of the flank eruptions outside the barren Sciara del Fuoco occurred in a short time, between ~9 and 7 ka during the Neostromboli period, when six eruptive events produced scoria cones, spatter ramparts and lava flows. The Neostromboli products belong to a potassic series (KS), and cluster in two differently evolved groups. After an eruptive pause of ~5,000 years, the most recent flank eruption involving the NE sector of the island occurred during the Recent Stromboli period with the formation of the large, highly K calc-alkaline lava flow field, named San Bartolo. The trend of eruptive fissures since 15 ka ranges from N30°E to N55°E, and corresponds to the magma intrusions radiating from the main feeding system of the volcano. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

detailed integrated stratigraphic study (biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy) was carried out on five sections from the western part of the Bavarian Upper Freshwater Molasse of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB), greatly improving the chronostratigraphy of these sediments. The sections belong to the lithostratigraphic units Limnische Untere Serie (UL) and Fluviatile Untere Serie (UF) and contain 19 (mostly new) small-mammal bearing levels, significantly refining the local biostratigraphy. Radiometric ages obtained from glass shards from tuff horizons are used together with the biostratigraphic information for constructing and confirming the magnetostratigraphic correlation of the studied sections to the Astronomical Tuned Time Scale (ANTS04; Lourens et al. in Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press, 2004). This correlation implies that the UL lithostratigraphic unit corresponds to the latest Ottnangian and the Early Karpatian, whereas the UF corresponds to the Karpatian and the Early Badenian. This indicates that the Brackish- to Freshwater Molasse transition already occurred during the late Ottnangian. The pre-Riesian hiatus occurred in the latest Karpatian and lower Early Badenian in Eastern Bavaria and Bohemia and in the Late Karpatian and earliest Badenian in Western Bavaria. The geochemical and Ar-Ar data of volcanic ashes suggest that highly evolved silicic magmas from a single volcano or volcanic center, characterized by a uniform Nd isotopic composition, erupted repetitively over the course of at least 1.6 Myr. Three phases of eruptive activity were identified at 16.1 ± 0.2 Ma (Zahling-2), 15.6 ± 0.4 Ma (Krumbad), and 14.5 ± 0.2 Ma (Heilsberg, Hegau). The correlation of the local biostratigraphic zonation to the ANTS04 enables further the characterization of both the Ottnangian-Karpatian and Karpatian-Badenian boundaries in the NAFB by small-mammal biostratigraphy. According to these results the Ottnangian-Karpatian boundary is contemporaneous with the first appearance datum of Megacricetodon bavaricus (in the size of the type population) and the first common occurrence of Keramidomys thaleri, whereas Ligerimys florancei, Melissiodon dominans and Prodeinotherium aff. bavaricum have been already disappeared during the late Ottnangian. The Karpatian-Badenian boundary is characterized by a significant size increase of the large Megacricetodon lineage and possibly a (re-)immigration of Prodeinotherium bavaricum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present elemental and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic data for the magmatic suite (~79 Ma) of the Harşit pluton, from the Eastern Pontides (NE Turkey), with the aim of determining its magma source and geodynamic evolution. The pluton comprises granite, granodiorite, tonalite and minor diorite (SiO = 59.43–76.95 wt%), with only minor gabbroic diorite mafic microgranular enclaves in composition (SiO = 54.95–56.32 wt%), and exhibits low Mg# (<46). All samples show a high-K calc-alkaline differentiation trend and I-type features. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns are fractionated [(La/Yb) = 2.40–12.44] and display weak Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.30–0.76). The rocks are characterized by enrichment of LILE and depletion of HFSE. The Harşit host rocks have weak concave-upward REE patterns, suggesting that amphibole and garnet played a significant role in their generation during magma segregation. The host rocks and their enclaves are isotopically indistinguishable. Sr–Nd isotopic data for all of the samples display I = 0.70676–0.70708, ε(79 Ma) = −4.4 to −3.3, with T = 1.09–1.36 Ga. The lead isotopic ratios are (Pb/Pb) = 18.79–18.87, (Pb/Pb) = 15.59–15.61 and (Pb/Pb) = 38.71–38.83. These geochemical data rule out pure crustal-derived magma genesis in a post-collision extensional stage and suggest mixed-origin magma generation in a subduction setting. The melting that generated these high-K granitoidic rocks may have resulted from the upper Cretaceous subduction of the Izmir–Ankara–Erzincan oceanic slab beneath the Eurasian block in the region. The back-arc extensional events would have caused melting of the enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle and formed mafic magma. The underplating of the lower crust by mafic magmas would have played a significant role in the generation of high-K magma. Thus, a thermal anomaly induced by underplated basic magma into a hot crust would have caused partial melting in the lower part of the crust. In this scenario, the lithospheric mantle-derived basaltic melt first mixed with granitic magma of crustal origin at depth. Then, the melts, which subsequently underwent a fractional crystallization and crustal assimilation processes, could ascend to shallower crustal levels to generate a variety of rock types ranging from diorite to granite. Sr–Nd isotope modeling shows that the generation of these magmas involved ~65–75% of the lower crustal-derived melt and ~25–35% of subcontinental lithospheric mantle. Further, geochemical data and the Ar–Ar plateau age on hornblende, combined with regional studies, imply that the Harşit pluton formed in a subduction setting and that the back-arc extensional period started by least ~79 Ma in the Eastern Pontides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]