Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T19:17:25.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An Exceptionally Thick Middle Pleistocene Tephra Layer from Epirus, Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David M. Pyle
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Godwin Institute for Quaternary Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK
Tjeerd H. van Andel
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Godwin Institute for Quaternary Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK
Panayiotis Paschos
Affiliation:
Institute for Geology and Mineral Exploration, Prevezza, Greece
Paul van den Bogaard
Affiliation:
Geomar FZ, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany

Abstract

A newly recognized 2-m-thick trachytic volcanic ash deposit from northwestern Greece is dated at 374,000 ± 7000 yr and correlated with the Middle Pleistocene volcanic activity of central Italy. The deposit represents ash fallout from one of the largest volcanic eruptions in Europe of the past 400,000 yr and should provide an important stratigraphic marker within the poorly dated Middle Pleistocene deposits of Italy and Greece.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvarez, W., 1973. Ancient course of the Tiber river near Rome: An introduction to the Middle Pleistocene volcanic stratigraphy of Central Italy. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 84 749758.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alvarez, W., Nicoletti, M., Petrucciani, C., 1976. Potassium-argon ages on pyroclastic rocks from the Pleistocene Sabatini Volcanic district north of Rome. Rendiconti della Societa Italiana di Mineralogia e Petrologia. 32 147152.Google Scholar
Alvarez, W., Ammerman, A.J., Renne, P.R., Karner, D.B., Terrenato, N., Montanari, A., 1996. Quaternary fluvial–volcanic stratigraphy and geochronology of the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Geology. 24 751754.Google Scholar
Bailey, G.N., Papaconstantinou, V., Sturdy, D., 1992. Asprochaliko and Kokkinopilos: TL dating and reinterpretation of Middle Palaeolithic sites in Epirus, Northwest Greece. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 2 136144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barberi, F., Innocenti, F., Lirer, L., Munno, R., Pescatore, T., Santacroce, R., 1978. The Campanian ignimbrite: A major prehistoric eruption in the Naples area (Italy). Bulletin Volcanologique. 41 113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barberi, F., Cassano, E., La Torre, P., Sbrana, A., 1991. Structural evolution of Campi Flegrei caldera in light of volcanological and geophysical data. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 48 3349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beccaluva, L., di Girolamo, P., Serri, G., 1991. Petrogenesis and tectonic setting of the Roman Volcanic Province, Italy. Lithos. 26 191221.Google Scholar
Berggren, W.A., Hilgen, F.J., Langereis, C.G., Kent, D.V., Obradovich, J.D., Raffi, I., Raymo, M.E., Shackleton, N.J., 1995. Late Neogene chronology: New perspectives in high-resolution chronology. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 107 12551271.Google Scholar
Boekschoten, G.J., 1971. Quaternary tephra on Crete and the eruptions of the Santorini volcano. Opera Botanica. 30 4148.Google Scholar
Calanchi, N., Gasparotto, G., Romagnoli, C., 1994. Glass chemistry in volcaniclastic sediments of ODP Leg 107, Site 650, sedimentary sequence—provenance and chronological implications. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 60 5985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cita, M.B., Vergnaud-Grazzini, C., Robert, C., Chamley, H., Ciaranfi, N., d'Onofrio, S., 1977. Paleoclimatic record of a long deep-sea core from the eastern Mediterranean. Quaternary Research. 8 205235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comas, M. C., Zahn, R., Klaus, A., et al. 1996, Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Initial Reports, 161, Ocean Drilling Program, College Station, TX.Google Scholar
Cornell, W., Carey, S., Sigurdsson, H., 1983. Computer simulation of transport and deposition of the Campanian Y-5 ash. Explosive Volcanism. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 89–109.Google Scholar
De Rita, D., di Filippo, M., Rosa, C., 1996. Structural evolution of the Bracciano volcano—Tectonic depression, Sabatini volcanic district, Italy. Geological Society Special Publication. 110 225236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Rita, D., Funiciello, R., Rossi, U., Sposato, A., 1983. Structure and evolution of the Sacrofano-Baccano caldera, Sabatini volcanic complex, Rome. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 17 219236.Google Scholar
Di Girolamo, P., Ghiara, M.R., Lirer, L., Muno, R., Rolandi, G., Stanzione, D., 1984. Vulcanologia e petrologia dei Campi Flegrei. Bolletino della Societa Geologica Italiana. 103 349413.Google Scholar
Ermolli, E.R., Juvigne, E., Bernasconi, S., Brancaccio, L., Cinque, A., Lirer, L., Ozer, A., Santangelo, N., 1995. Le premier stratotype continental de quatre stades isotopiques successifs du Pleistocene moyen pour le bassin mediterranean septentrional: le Vallo di Diano (Campanie, Italie). Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris. 321 877884.Google Scholar
Federman, A.N., Carey, S.N., 1980. Electron microprobe correlation of tephra layers from eastern Mediterranean abyssal sediments and the island of Santorini. Quaternary Research. 13 160171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fornaseri, M., 1985. Geochronology of volcanic rocks from Latium (Italy). Rendiconti della Societa Italiana de Mineralogia e Petrologia. 40 73106.Google Scholar
Guichard, F., Carey, S., Arthur, M.A., Sigurdsson, H., Arnold, M.A., 1993. Tephra from the Minoan eruption of Santorini in sediments of the Black Sea. Nature. 363 610612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hildreth, W., Drake, R.E., 1992. Volcan Quizapu, Chilean Andes. Bulletin of Volcanology. 54 93125.Google Scholar
Hsü, K., Montadert, L., et al. 1978, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 42, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Google Scholar
Imbrie, J., Hays, J.D., Martinson, D.G., McIntyre, A.C., Mix, A.C., Morley, J.J., Pisias, N.G., Prell, W.L., Shackleton, N.J., 1984. The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: Support from a revised chronology of the marine ∂18 . Berger, A.L., Imbrie, J., Hays, J.D., Kukla, G.J., Saltzman, B., Milankovitch and Climate. Reidel, Dordrecht, 269306.Google Scholar
Izett, G.A., Wilcox, R.E., Powers, H.A., Desborough, G.A., 1970. The Bishop Ash Bed, a Pleistocene marker bed in the Western United States. Quaternary Research. 1 121132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karstens, K. A., Mascle, J., et al. 1990, Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Programme, Science Results, 107, Ocean Drilling Program, College Station, TX.Google Scholar
Keller, J., 1981. Quaternary tephrochonology in the Mediterranean region. Self, S., Sparks, R.S.J., Tephra Studies. Reidel, Dordrecht, 227244.Google Scholar
Keller, J., Ryan, W.B.F., Ninkovich, D., Altherr, R., 1978. Explosive volcanic activity in the Mediterranean over the past 200,000 years as recorded in deep-sea sediments. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 89 591604.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luhr, J.F., Giannetti, B., 1987. The Brown leucitic tuff of Roccamonfina volcano (Roman Region, Italy). Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 95 420436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCoy, F.W., 1981. Areal distribution, redeposition and mixing of tephra within deep-sea sediments of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Self, S., Sparks, R.S.J., Tephra Studies. Reidel, Dordrecht, 245254.Google Scholar
McCoy, F.W., Cornell, W., 1990. Volcaniclastic sediments in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Programme, Science Results. 107 291305.Google Scholar
Nappi, G., Cappaccioni, B., Mattioli, M., Mancini, E., Valentini, L., 1994. Plinian fall deposits from Vulsini Volcanic District (Central Italy). Bulletin of Volcanology. 56 502515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olausson, E., 1971. Tephrachronology and the late Pleistocene of the Aegean Sea. Opera Botanica. 30 2939.Google Scholar
Pye, K., 1992. Aeolian dust transport and deposition over Crete and adjacent parts of the Mediterranean Sea. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 17 271288.Google Scholar
Pyle, D.M., 1989. The thickness, volume and grainsize of tephra fall deposits. Bulletin of Volcanology. 51 115.Google Scholar
Pyle, D.M., 1995. Assessment of the minimum volume of tephra fall deposits. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 69 379382.Google Scholar
Pyle, D. M, Widely dispersed Quaternary tephra in Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews.Google Scholar
Rosi, M., Sbrana, A., Principe, C., 1983. The Phlegrean Fields: structural evolution, volcanic history and eruptive mechanism. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 17 273288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, W. B. F., Hsü, K., et al. 1973, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 13, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Google Scholar
Santi, P., 1990. New geochronological data of the Vulsini volcanic district (Central Italy). Plinius. 4 9192.Google Scholar
Scandone, R., Bellucci, F., Lirer, L., Rolandi, G., 1991. The structure of the Campanian Plain and the activity of the Neapolitan volcanoes (Italy). Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 48 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spadea, P., 1986. Volcanogenic deposits in Fossa Bradanica (southern Italy)—Records of calcalkaline and akaline volcanism during the Pliocene and Pleistocene in the Mediterranean. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Abhandlung. 153 217244.Google Scholar
Sparks, R.S.J., Walker, G.P.L., 1977. The significance of vitric-enriched air fall ashes associated with crystal-enriched ignimbrites. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 2 329341.Google Scholar
Spera, F.J., Crisp, J.A., 1981. Eruption volume, periodicity and caldera area: Relationships and inferences on development of compositional zonation in silicic magma chambers. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 11 169187.Google Scholar
St. Seymour, K., Christianis, K., 1995. Correlation of a tephra layer in western Greece with a late Pleistocene eruption in the Campanian province of Italy. Quaternary Research. 43 4654.Google Scholar
Thunell, R., Federman, A., Sparks, S., Williams, D., 1979. The age, origin and volcanological significance of the Y-5 ash layer in the Mediterranean. Quaternary Research. 12 241253.Google Scholar
Trigilo, R., 1995. The Volcano of the Alban Hills. Tipographia SGS, Rome. Google Scholar
Turbeville, B.N., 1992. 40 39 . Bulletin of Volcanology. 55 110118.Google Scholar
van Andel, T. H, Palaeosols, red beds and the Old Stone Age in Greece, Geoarchaeology: An International Journal.Google Scholar
van den Bogaard, P., Mocek, B., Stavesand, M., Chronology and composition of volcaniclastic ash layers in the Central Tyrrhenian Basin (Site 974). Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program. Science Results.Google Scholar
Vergnaud-Grazzini, C., Ryan, W.F., Cita, M.B., 1977. Stable isotope fractionation, climate change and episodic stagnation in the eastern Mediterranean during the late Quaternary. Marine Micropaleontology. 2 353370.Google Scholar
Vitaliano, C.J., Vitaliano, D.B., 1974. Volcanic tephra on Crete. American Journal of Archaeology. 78 1925.Google Scholar
Vitaliano, C.J., Taylor, S.R., Farrand, W.R., Jacobsen, T.W., 1981. Tephra layer in Franchthi Cave, Peloponnesos, Greece. Self, S., Sparks, R.S.J., Tephra Studies. Reidel, Dordrecht, 373379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, N.D., Sparks, R.S.J., Sigurdsson, H., Huang, T.C., Federman, A., Carey, S., Ninkovich, D., 1978. Volume and extent of the Minoan tephra from Santorini volcano: New evidence from deep-sea sediment cores. Nature. 271 122125.Google Scholar
Wijmstra, T.A., Groenhart, M.C., 1983. Record of 700,000 years vegetational history in eastern Macedonia. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas: Fisicas y Naturales. 15 8798.Google Scholar
Woods, A.W., Wohletz, K., 1991. Dimensions and dynamics of co-ignimbrite eruption columns. Nature. 350 225227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar