STR14/01 Sabine Wulf Methods and applications of tephrochronology in sedimentary archives Scientific Technical Report STR14/01 ISSN 1610-0956 and applications of tephrochronologyin sedimentary archives Methods Wulf, S. www.gfz-potsdam.de Recommended citation: Wulf, S. (2012), Methods and applications of tephrochronology in sedimentary archives. Scientific Technical Report 14/01, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Citation example for individual chapters: Wulf, S. (2012) Tephra correlation and databases. In: Wulf, S. (2012), Methods and applications of tephrochronology in sedimentary archives (pp.23-24). Scientific Technical Report 14/01, GFZ S. Wulf German Research Centre for Geosciences. Methods and applications of tephrochronology in sedimentary archives Habilitation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades „doctor rerum naturalium habilitatus“ (Dr. rer. nat. habil.) in der Wissenschaftsdisziplin Geologie eingereicht in Form einer kumulativen Arbeit an der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Potsdam Imprint Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Telegrafenberg D-14473 Potsdam Published in Potsdam, Germany Dezember 2012 ISSN 2190-7110 DOI: 10.2312/GFZ.b103-14010 URN: urn:nbn:de:kobv:b103-14010 Scientific Technical Report STR14/01 This work is published in the GFZ series Scientific Technical Report (STR) and electronically available at GFZ website www.gfz-potsdam.de Recommended citation: Wulf, S. (2014), Methods and applications of tephrochronology in sedimentary archives. Scientific Technical Report 14/01, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Citation example for individual chapters: Wulf, S. (2014) Tephra correlation and databases. In: Wulf, S. (2014), Methods and applications of tephrochronology in sedimentary archives (pp.23-24). Scientific Technical Report 14/01, GFZ Sabine Wulf German Research Centre for Geosciences. Methods and applications of tephrochronology in sedimentary archives Habilitation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades „doctor rerum naturalium habilitatus“ (Dr. rer. nat. habil.) in der Wissenschaftsdisziplin Geologie eingereicht in Form einer kumulativen Arbeit an der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Potsdam Imprint Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Telegrafenberg D-14473 Potsdam Published in Potsdam, Germany January 2014 ISSN 1610-0956 DOI: 10.2312/GFZ.b103-14010 URN: urn:nbn:de:kobv:b103-14010 Scientific Technical Report STR14/01 This work is published in the GFZ series Scientific Technical Report (STR) and electronically available at GFZ website www.gfz-potsdam.de Universität Potsdam Institut für Erd- und Umweltwissenschaften und Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ Sektion 5.2 – Klimadynamik und Landschaftsentwicklung __________________________________________________________________________________ Methods and applications of tephrochronology in sedimentary archives Habilitation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades „doctor rerum naturalium habilitatus“ (Dr. rer. nat. habil.) in der Wissenschaftsdisziplin Geologie eingereicht in Form einer kumulativen Arbeit an der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Potsdam von Dr. Sabine Wulf Potsdam, Dezember 2012 Content List of figures ............................................................................................................................. I List of tables ............................................................................................................................... I Abstract .................................................................................................................................... II Zusammenfassung .................................................................................................................. IV Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. VI 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Principles of tephrochronology ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Scientific goals ................................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Studied sites ...................................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Structure of the Habilitation Thesis .................................................................................. 7 2 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Methods in tephrochronology ........................................................................................... 9 2.1.1 Identification of tephra ............................................................................................... 9 2.1.2 Tephra sample preparation ....................................................................................... 15 2.1.3 Tephra characterisation ............................................................................................ 19 2.1.4 Tephra correlation and databases ............................................................................. 23 2.1.5 Dating of tephra ....................................................................................................... 24 2.2 Application of tephra studies .......................................................................................... 26 3 Conclusions and perspectives ............................................................................................. 36 4. References ........................................................................................................................... 38 5. Manuscripts ........................................................................................................................ 47 5.1 Manuscript #1 ................................................................................................................. 47 5.2 Manuscript #2 ................................................................................................................. 48 5.3 Manuscript #3 ................................................................................................................. 49 5.4 Manuscript #4 ................................................................................................................. 50 Scientific Technical Report STR14/01, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ. http://doi.org/10.2312/GFZ.b103-14010 List of figures Figure 1: World map with zoom into Europe showing the sites of tephrochronological investigations mentioned in the manuscripts and text including main districts of Late Quaternary explosive volcanism. ........................................................................................... 4 Figure 2: Magnetic susceptibility and µ-XRF element profiles (Si, S, K, Ca) of the AP2 tephra from Vesuvius (ca. 3.5 ka BP) in a polished sediment block from core LGM-L in Lago Grande di Monticchio. ............................................................................................... 14 Figure 3: Flow diagram showing the principles of tephra sample preparation and analysis in sedimentary cores. ............................................................................................................... 18 Figure 4: a) + b) Results of the EPMA measurements of the Lipari obsidian reference standard using different analytical set-up conditions. c) + d) Comparison of major elemental glass data of three distal tephra layers - TM-24a, TM-24b and TM-27 - from the Lago Grande di Monticchio record analysed by EPMA at the GFZ Potsdam and the University of Oxford using a 15 kV voltage and varying beam currents and beam sizes (data from Wulf et al., 2012). e) + f) Comparison of major elemental glass data of the S1 tephra (8.8 ka BP) obtained by EPMA at the GFZ Potsdam (unpublished data) and ETH Zürich (Hamann et al., 2010) at a 15 kV voltage and different beam currents and beam sizes. ...................................................................................................... 21 Figure 5: Tephrostratigraphical linking of the Lago Grande di Monticchio record with selected terrestrial and marine palaeoclimate sequences in the Eastern Mediterranean.. ................. 27 Figure 6: Chronostratigraphical position of major tephras (red bars) and tephrostratigraphic linking of selected terrestrial (a-c) and marine (d) palaeoclimate records in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as proposed position of the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) in NGRIP Greenland ice core (e)... .............................................................................. 29 Figure 7: Tephrostratigraphical synchronisation of terrestrial and marine sediment records in the Central Mediterranean.. ................................................................................................. 31 Figure 8: Chronostratigraphic position of the X-5 (=C-27=TM-25) and X-6 (=C-31=TM-27) tephra layers in sediments of the (a) Ionian Sea (Kraml, 1997), (b) the Tyrrhenian Sea (Paterne et al., 2008),(c) Lago Grande di Monticchio (Brauer et al., 2007a; Wulf et al., 2012), correlated with (d) the 18O record of the NGRIP Greenland ice core record (North Greenland Ice Core Project Members, 2004), modified after