Integrating the Holocene tephrostratigraphy for East Asia using a high-resolution cryptotephra study from Lake Suigetsu (SG14 core), central Japan

McLean, D., Albert, P. G., Nakagawa, T., Suzuki, T., Staff, R. A. , Yamada, K., Kitaba, I., Haraguchi, T., Kitagawa, J. and Smith, V. (2018) Integrating the Holocene tephrostratigraphy for East Asia using a high-resolution cryptotephra study from Lake Suigetsu (SG14 core), central Japan. Quaternary Science Reviews, 183, pp. 36-58. (doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.12.013)

Abstract

Tephra (volcanic ash) layers have the potential to synchronise disparate palaeoenvironmental archives on regional to hemispheric scales. Highly productive arc regions, like those in East Asia, offer a considerable number of widespread isochrons, but before records can be confidently correlated using these layers, a refined and integrated framework of these eruptive events is required. Here we present the first high-resolution Holocene cryptotephra study in East Asia, using the Lake Suigetsu sedimentary archive in central Japan. The Holocene tephrostratigraphy has been extended from four to twenty ash layers using cryptotephra extraction techniques, which integrates the deposits from explosive eruptions from North Korea/China, South Korea and along the Japanese arc. This Lake Suigetsu tephrostratigraphy is now the most comprehensive record of East Asian volcanism, and the linchpin site for correlating sequences across this region. Major element glass geochemical compositions are presented for the tephra layers in the sequence, which have been compared to proximal datasets to correlate them to their volcanic source and specific eruptions. This study has significantly extended the ash dispersal of many key Holocene marker layers, and has identified the first distal occurrence of isochrons from Ulleungdo and Changbaishan volcanoes. Utilising the high-precision Lake Suigetsu chronology, we are able to provide constrained eruption ages for the tephra layers, which can be transferred into other site-specific age models containing these markers. This new framework indicates that several isochrons stratigraphically bracket abrupt climate intervals in Japan, and could be used to precisely assess the regional and hemispheric synchronicity of these events.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: DM is funded by NERC as part of the Environmental Research Doctoral Training Programme at the University of Oxford (grant: NE/L002612/1). PGA and RAS are supported by Early Career Fellowships from the Leverhulme Trust (grant: ECF-2014-438 and ECF-2015-396). The Fukui-SG14 sediment coring campaign was funded by the Fukui Prefectural government, and the coring was conducted by the team of Seibushisui Co. Ltd. Japan, led by A. Kitamura.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Staff, Dr Richard
• Authors: McLean, D., Albert, P. G., Nakagawa, T., Suzuki, T., Staff, R. A., Yamada, K., Kitaba, I., Haraguchi, T., Kitagawa, J., and Smith, V.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Journal Name: Quaternary Science Reviews
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0277-3791
• ISSN (Online): 1873-457X
• Published Online: 02 February 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd.
• First Published: First published in Quaternary Science Reviews 183: 36-58
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy