Laacher See Tephra: a Widespread Isochronous Late Quaternary Tephra Layer in Central and Northern Europe
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Laacher See Tephra: A widespread isochronous late Quaternary tephra layer in central and northern Europe PAUL v.d. BOGAARD* i , , ,.. ... D ,,, . HANS-ULRICH SCHMINCKE f ¡"stUuíJur Mmeralogie, Ruhr-Um'sitat Bochum, Postfach 10 21 48, D-4630 Bochum 1, West Germany ABSTRACT Tephra (LST), erupted some 11,000 yr B.P. from Laacher See Volcano (East Eifel Volcanic Field, West Germany), has been unusually well pre- A late Quaternary tephra layer, widespread in central and north- served in peat bogs and sediments of small lakes throughout much of ern Europe, resulted from explosive Plinian and phreatomagmatic central and northern Europe. Although recognized as a marker of the eruptions of the Laacher See Volcano 11,000 yr B.P. The tephra is European late Quaternary "Allerod-Interstadial" since Frechen (1952) distinguished bom other late Quaternary andesitic-rhyolitic airfall tuff and Firbas (1953), its areal distribution was poorly understood. Reliable layers in northern Europe and from basaltic or trachytic tuff deposits identification and correlation criteria so far have not been developed, and in southern Euruope by its phonolitic composition and abundance of sanidine, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, amphibole, and sphene. The 9° 18° proximal tephia sequence at Laacher See is divided into three main deposits: the predominantly Plinian deposits of Lower and Middle Laacher See Tephra (LLST and MLST) and phreatomagmatic depos- its of the Upper Laacher See Tephra (ULST). The MLST member is further subdivided into beds A, B, and CI, C2, and C3. The chemical composition olr the magma is highly differentiated phonolite in the LLST to MLST B sections but mafic phonolite in the MLST CI to ULST section!;. All deposits are considered to be isochronous, the frequency maximum of 16 radiocarbon datings indicating an eruption about 11,000 ±50 yr B.P. Distal ash was deposited in three main fans directed to the north- east (LST traced up to 1,100 km distance), south (LST traced up to 600 km), and southwest (LST traced up to 100 km). Tephrostrati- graphic correlation of the distal ash deposits is based on (a) the major- element composition of glass shards, (b) lithology, and (c) heavy- mineral analyses. The northeastern fan consists of deposits from LLST, MLST B, and MLST CI eruptive phases, the southern fan comprises MLST A, MLST C2, and ULST deposits, and the south- western fan consists exclusively of ash from the ULST eruptive phase. Northeastern transport of ash during eruptive phases, with high Pli- nian eruption columns, but southern and southwestern transport of ash along phases of relatively low eruption columns, are interpreted in terms of prevailing southwesterly paleowinds at high altitudes (tropo- pause level?) but northerly winds dominating in the lower atmosphere. The Laacher See eruption columns were emplaced into an atmosphere vertically zoned with respect to paleowind directions, which also ex- plains the near-vent shifting of LLST, MLST B, and MLST CI iso- pach axes fro«» east-southeast to northeast within the first 20 km of transport INTRODUCTION Widespread tephra layers, formed from instantaneous explosive vol- canic eruption!!, are ideal isochronous marker beds. The Laacher See Figure 1. Areal distribution of Laacher See Tephra. Dots are selected sites of ash layers. Numbers of sites (italics) and samples refer to Table B (GSA Data Repository). Broken lines indicate distal fan •Present address: Geology Department, University of Toronto, Scarborough margins. Boundary of the Scandinavien ice shield at 11,000 yr B.P. Campus, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, Ontario MIC 1A4, Canada. (after Berglund, 1979). Additions! data for this article (two tables) may be secured free of charge by requesting Supplementary Data 85-32 from the GSA Documents Secretary. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 96, p. 1554-1571,17 figs., 1 table, December 1985. 1554 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/96/12/1554/3419432/i0016-7606-96-12-1554.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 Stratigraphie units of Laacher See Tephra Stratigraphie subdi- vision of Frechen (1953, .1981) loc. 15 Dune sections Reworked LST Lapilli layers Ash layers Breccia beds Figure 2. Strati- graphic units of prox- imal Laacher See Tephra. Correlation of two near-vent profiles with index map of lo- Laacher See calities (black triangles Tuft 5 (LST 51 symbolize morpholog- ically prominent alkali Laacher See Tuff i, (LST L) basalt scoria cones southeast of Laacher Laacher See See volcano). LLST to Tuff 3 (LST 31 ULST = members of the LST formation; Laacher See MLST A to MLST C3 Tuff 2 (LST 2) = subunits; I to XXI = beds. Stratigraphic Laacher See subdivision according Tuff I (LST I) to Frechen (1953) or is shown on the very Frauenkirch Trass right. Niedermendiger Tuft (NMT) Frauenkirch Tuff (FT) Me erboden Tuff (MT) Obermendiger Tuft (OUT) Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/96/12/1554/3419432/i0016-7606-96-12-1554.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 1556 BOGAARD AND SCHMINCKE the synchronous character of all Laacher See Tephra deposits has been questioned by some workers (Windheuser and Bunnacker, 1979; Juvigne, 1984). The data presented in our paper are concerned with (a) the present state of knowledge of the areal distribution of Laacher See Tephra, (b) discussion of criteria to identify LST and distinguish it from other late Quaternary tephra layers, (c) mineralogical and chemical differences within and between ash layers of the main depositional areas, and (d) a model of its formation. We will begin by briefly discussing Laacher See Volcano and its eruptive history. ERUPTIVE HISTORY OF LAACHER SEE VOLCANO Laacher See Volcano is located in the East Eifel Volcanic Field (West Germany), some 40 km south-southeast of Bonn (Fig. 1). Its explosive eruption 11,000 yr B.P. (the first and only) produced at least 5 km3 phonolite magma (dense rock equivalent) and resulted in a widely dispersed tephra blanket more than 50 m thick close to the eruptive center. All Laacher See Tephra was erupted from overlapping vents that were located inside the present Laacher See basin (Bogaard and Schmincke, 1984). A complsx "Laacher See-type" eruptive history is deduced from near-vent tephra sections, including deposits from alternating Plinian as well as phreatomagmatic eruptive processes (Bogaard, 1983). The se- quence is subdivided into deposits from three main eruptive phases: the Lower (LLST), Middle (MLST), and Upper (ULST) Laacher See Tephra. These are members of the Laacher See Tephra Formation (Fig. 2). At the base of Lower Laacher See Tephra, there is a poorly sorted, massive ash bed, rich in plant remains, tree molds, and accretionary lapilli—a deposit derived from an initial phreatomagmatic explosion. This so-called LLST basal tuff extends only up to 20-km distance from the vent. The overlying main volume of LLST consists of well-sorted, white layers of highly inflated pumice that was deposited from sustained Plinian erup- Figure 3. Distal Laacher See Tephra layer in Allerdd-dated fossil- tion columns. Isopach maps indicate transport directions that changed rich lake marl deposits from Triittlikon (eastern Switzerland; site no. from east-southeast close to the vent toward east-northeast at distances 75), some 350 km south of Laacher See volcano. The ash layer greater than 10 km. Simultaneous, phreatomagmatic explosions produced (arrow) here occurs as dark olive-gray parting. a minor base surge and fallout fan (LLST*) directed to the south. Middle Laj.cher See Tephra is subdivided into deposits from three ash-flow deposits at the base to laminated ash beds and massive and eruptive phases (MLST A, B, and C), which differ in (1) eruptive mecha- laminated silt beds at the top of the sequence (Schmincke and others, nisms, (2) prominent bedforms, and (3) pyroclast petrography. MLST A 1973; Bogaard, 1978; Fisher and others, 1983). The isopach pattern indi- consists of phreatomagmatic surge deposits and minor Plinian fallout lay- cates a major fallout fan directed to the south-southeast, as well as a minor ers. Its isopach map shows changing transport directions from south (near- ill-defined lobe directed to the south-southwest. vent) to southeast. The MLST B eruptive phase was characterized by LLST, LLST* and MLST A deposits were erupted from vents lo- magmatic eruptions from alternating convecting and collapsing Plinian cated in the southern part of the Laacher See basin. All tephra deposited eruption columns. Unwelded ash flow deposits (local term: "Trass") dom- after the MLST A eruptive phase was erupted from vents in the northern inate at the base, and well-sorted white pumice lapilli beds at the top of crater area (MLST B to ULST). The entire eruptive sequence (LLST to this sequence. The ash flows descended through about six passes in the rim ULST) is believed to have been deposited in less than 10 days (Elogaard, of the Laacher See basin, and accumulated in adjacent paleovalleys, after 1983). traveling as much as 10 km (Bogaard and Schmincke, 1984; Freundt and Schmincke, 198:5). Isopach maps constructed for MLST B fallout layers CRITERIA TO IDENTIFY LAACHER SEE TEPHRA indicate transport directions changing from east-southeast to east-northeast within the first 15 km from the vent. During MLST C eruptions, light Criteria for tephrostratigraphic correlations were recently summa- greenish-gray to gray, increasingly dense pumice was deposited in Plinian rized by Westgate and Gorton (1981). These are based on a tephra layer's fallout layers and intercalated minor ash flows. Transport directions of the stratigraphic, paleontologic, palynologic, paleomagnetic, and radiometric fallout clouds, inferred from isopach maps, are highly variable, ranging relationships and the properties of glass shards, crystals, and litliics that from east-southeast to northeast (section MLST CI), southeast (section make up the tephra. MLST C2) to east (section MLST C3). During the late phreatomagmatic eruptive phase which formed the Stratigraphy, Palynology, and Radiometric Age Upper Laacher S>ee Tephra, dense, gray to black, phenocryst-rich, phono- lite clasts are the typical essential components.