A pulse of mid-Pleistocene rift volcanism in Ethiopia at the dawn of modern humans

Hutchinson, W. et al. (2016) A pulse of mid-Pleistocene rift volcanism in Ethiopia at the dawn of modern humans. Nature Communications, 7, 13192. (doi: 10.1038/ncomms13192) (PMID:27754479) (PMCID:PMC5071850)

Abstract

The Ethiopian Rift Valley hosts the longest record of human co-existence with volcanoes on Earth, however, current understanding of the magnitude and timing of large explosive eruptions in this region is poor. Detailed records of volcanism are essential for interpreting the palaeoenvironments occupied by our hominin ancestors; and also for evaluating the volcanic hazards posed to the 10 million people currently living within this active rift zone. Here we use new geochronological evidence to suggest that a 200 km-long segment of rift experienced a major pulse of explosive volcanic activity between 320 and 170 ka. During this period, at least four distinct volcanic centres underwent large-volume (>10 km3) caldera-forming eruptions, and eruptive fluxes were elevated five times above the average eruption rate for the past 700 ka. We propose that such pulses of episodic silicic volcanism would have drastically remodelled landscapes and ecosystems occupied by early hominin populations.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work is a contribution to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded RiftVolc project (NE/L013932/1, Rift volcanism: past, present and future). W.H. was funded by NERC studentship, NE/J5000045/1 and a Boise Trust Fund from the Department of Zoology (University of Oxford). R.F. was funded through European Research Council Advanced Grant ‘CRITMAG’ to J. Blundy. Airborne data used for geological mapping were collected by the NERC Airborne Research and Survey Facility (flight ET12-17-321). 40Ar/39Ar geochronology at SUERC was supported by a NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory grant (IP-1506-1114). Technical assistance at SUERC was provided by R. Dymock and J. Imlach. L. Kalnins (University of Durham) provided GMT scripts for calculating volumes from digital elevation models. Additional funding for fieldwork was provided by the following: University College (University of Oxford); the Geological Remote Sensing Group; and the Edinburgh Geological Society and the Leverhulme Trust.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Barfod, Dr Dan and Cohen, Dr Benjamin
• Authors: Hutchinson, W., Fusillo, R., Pyle, D. M., Mather, T. A., Blundy, J. D., Biggs, J., Yirgu, G., Cohen, B. E., Brooker, R. A., Barfod, D. N., and Calvert, A. T.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences; College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Journal Name: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN (Online): 2041-1723
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nature Communications 7:13192
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License