IAVCEI – CVS – IAS 3IMC Conference Malargüe, Argentina, 2009

A widespread East Asian chronomarker (Aira-TN tephra) found in varved lake sediments (Sihailongwan and Erlongwan) of the LongGang (NE )

Jens Mingram1, Ute Frank1, Haitao You1,3, Martina Stebich2 and Jiaqi Liu3

1 GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany – [email protected] 2 Senckenberg Research Station for Quaternary Palaeontology, Weimar, Germany 3 Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Beijing, China

Keywords: tephrochronology, palaeoclimate, varves.

Maar- and crater lakes of the LongGang basaltic tephra horizons a 0.5 mm thick rhyolithic Volcanic Field (Jilin province, NE China) have been ash layer, consisting predominantly of thin-walled the subject of intensified research over the last 10 glass shards, has been found in petrographic thin years (e.g. Liu 1988, Liu et al. 2000, Mingram et al. sections. The age of this tephra as derived from the 2004, Chu et al. 2005, Schettler et al. 2006, Frank Sihailongwan varve chronology is 29,738 calendar 2007, You et al. 2008, Stebich et al. in press) in the years BP. A similar ash layer has been found in frame of a Chinese-German cooperation programme undisturbed, but not varved, sediments of Lake (Liu et al. 2001). Erlongwan and could be placed at 29,682 cal. years After initial comparison of gravity cores and BP according to the Erlongwan age model. limnological data from eight lakes of the LongGang Electron microprobe investigations of glass field research concentrated on two lakes, shards from both tephra layers show a very similar Sihailongwan (Fig. 1, 42°17’N, 126°36’E) and rhyolithic composition. Except for the younger Erlongwan (42°18’N, 126°23’E) maar lakes, from Changbai volcano the nearest explosive volcanic which long sediment sections have been obtained centres are all connected with the Japanese arc. with a high-precision piston coring system Within the possible time window we found a well- (Mingram et al. 2007). known and widespread ash layer of the Aira caldera (31°39’N, 130°42’E) from southern Japan (e.g. Furuta et al. 1986), ca. 1,300 km SE of the lakes.

Fig. 1 – Lake Sihailongwan (NE China) with GFZ Potsdam raft in September 1999 Fig. 2 – Three sediment profiles obtained from Lake Sihailongwan in 2001, with indicated marker tephra. Sediments of Lake Sihailongwan are varved nearly continuously; hence an age model could be Glass chemistry of the Aira Tanzawa (often established based on varve chronology and AMS 14C referred as AT or Aira-TN) tephra and the rhyolithic dating of terrestrial plant remains. Lake Erlongwan, ash layers from both Lake Sihailongwan and Lake mainly due to its morphology and the granitic host Erlongwan shows striking similarities (Tab. 1). The most recent dating of the Aira-TN ash rock, does not exhibit varved sediments throughout, 14 therefore the Erlongwan age model is based mainly yielded a AMS C age of 25,120 ± 270 yrs BP on AMS 14C dating. Sediment profiles from both (Miyairi et al. 2004). Transferred into calibrated lakes contain several cm- to dm-thick basaltic tephra years with CALPAL (Jöris and Weninger 1998) the layers, originating from local eruptions of the eruption age of the Aira-TN is 30,028 ± 314 cal. yrs which are valuable for BP, which matches perfectly the independently inter-lake correlation only. Beside these local estimated age of the rhyolithic ash from

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Sihailongwan and Erlongwan maar lakes. Volcanic glass Fluxes and Varve Formation in Sihailongwan, a Maar found in the Chinese Malan loess section has been Lake from Northeastern China. Journal of already attributed by Eden et al. (1996) to the Aira-TN Paleolimnology 34(3): 311-324. eruption. Eden, D.N., Froggatt, P.C., Zheng, H.H., Machida, H.,

Na2O Si2O F MgO Al2O3 K2O CaO P2O5 Cl TiO2 MnO FeO n 1996. Volcanic glass found in Late Quaternary

SHL BT-1 4.81 48.25 0.00 3.92 16.85 2.88 7.93 0.75 0.09 3.29 0.16 10.53 37 Chinese loess: a pointer for future studies? Quaternary

SHL BT-4 5.05 49.59 0.00 3.49 17.52 2.80 7.14 0.86 0.09 2.82 0.10 10.50 37 International 34-36: 107-111. SHL RT-1 2.94 74.85 0.00 0.13 11.90 3.10 1.09 0.02 0.11 0.13 0.05 1.27 39 Frank, U., 2007. Palaeomagnetic investigations on lake ERL RT-1 2.95 75.51 0.00 0.13 11.89 3.15 1.09 0.02 0.10 0.14 0.04 1.24 105 sediments from NE China: a new record of SHL BT-7 4.29 50.02 0.00 5.05 16.57 1.76 8.47 0.49 0.06 2.43 0.08 10.44 37 geomagnetic secular variations for the last 37 ka. Geophysical Journal International 169(1): 29-40. – Tab. 1 Mean values of major element concentrations Furuta, T., Fujioka, K., Arai, F., 1986. Widespread for individual glass shards from selected tephras of Sihailongwan (SHL) and Erlongwan (ERL) maar lakes, n submarine tephras around Japan - Petrographic and = number of glass shards analyzed. chemical properties. Marine Geology 72(1-2): 125- 142. Jöris, O., Weninger, B., 1998. Extension of the 14C Calibration Curve to ca. 40,000 cal BC by Synchronizing Greenland 18O/16O Ice Core Records and North Atlantic Foraminifera Profiles: a Comparison with U/Th Coral Data. Radiocarbon 40(1): 495-504. Liu, J.Q., 1988. The Cenozoic Volcanic Episodes in Northeast China. Acta Petrologica Sinica 1: 1-10. Liu, J.Q., Negendank, J.F.W., Wang, W.Y., Guo, Z.F., Mingram, J., Chu, G.Q., Chen, R., Luo, X.J., Liu, T.S., 2000. Geological characteristics and distribution of maar lakes in China. Terra Nostra 2000/6: 264-273. Liu, J.Q., Liu, T.S., Negendank, J.F.W., 2001. The Chinese Maar Drilling Programme - A Chinese- German Cooperation for Palaeoclimatic Reconstructions. PAGES Newsletter 9 (2): 10-11. Mingram, J., Allen, J.R.M., Brüchmann, C., Liu, J.Q., Luo, X.J., Negendank, J.F.W., Nowaczyk, N., Schettler, G., 2004. Maar- and crater lakes of the Long Gang Volcanic Field (N.E. China) - overview, Fig. 3 – Varved sediments of Lake Sihailongwan with laminated sediments, and vegetation history of the last rhyolithic ash layer (at both sides of the dark crack). 900 years. Quaternary International 123-125: 135-147. Crossed polarizers, photo height is 15 mm. Insert with glass Mingram, J., Negendank, J.F.W., Brauer, A., Berger, D., shards at higher magnification, parallel polarizers, photo Hendrich, A., Köhler, M., Usinger, H., 2007. Long height is 150 µm. cores from small lakes - recovering up to 100 m - long lake sediment sequences with a high-precision rod- The new finding of the Aira-TN ash in two operated piston corer (Usinger-corer). Journal of Chinese lakes and in particular the independent, Paleolimnology 37(4): 517-528. precise dating and connection with a broad set of Miyairi, Y., Yoshida, K., Miyazaki, Y., Matsuzaki, H., Kaneoka, I., 2004. Improved 14C dating of a tephra environmental and climate proxy data obtained from layer (AT tephra, Japan) using AMS on selected both lakes offers the opportunity of detailed organic fractions. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in comparison of palaeoclimate reconstructions from Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with East China and Japan, and for correlation of Materials and Atoms 223/224: 555-559. terrestrial and marine archives. At Lake Schettler, G., Mingram, J., Liu, Q., Stebich, M., Dulski, Sihailongwan detailed pollen analyses place the P., 2006. East-Asian monsoon variability between Aira-TN ash right at the beginning of a widespread 15000 and 2000 cal. yr BP recorded in varved climatic deterioration, with increase of e.g. sediments of Lake Sihailongwan (northeastern China, Betulaand Artemisia percentages, and decrease of Long Gang volcanic field). The Holocene 16(8): 1043- 1057. thermophilous species like Ulmus, leading into the Stebich, M., Mingram, J., Han, J.T., Liu, J.Q., in press. Last Glacial Maximum with harshest climatic Late spread of (cool-)temperate forests in conditions of the whole last Glacial period also in Northeast China and climate changes synchronous NE China. with the North Atlantic region. Global and Planetary Change. References You, H.T., Liu, J.Q., Liu, Q., Chu, G.Q., Rioual, P., Han, J.T., 2008. Study of the varve record from Erlongwan Chu, G.Q., Liu, J.Q., Schettler, G., Li, J.Y., Sun, Q., Gu, maar lake, NE China, over the last 13 ka BP. Chinese Z.Y., Lu, H.Y., Liu, Q., Liu, T.S., 2005. Sediment Science Bulletin 53(2): 262-266.

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