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Promise and pitfalls for characterizing and correlating the zeolitically altered tephra of the Pleistocene Peninj Group, Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lindsay J. McHenry ,
Luis Luque ,
José Ángel Gómez  and
Fernando Diez-Martín
Lindsay J. McHenry*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, 3209 North Maryland Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53211, United States
Luis Luque
Affiliation:
Fundación Dinópolis, Teruel, Spain
José Ángel Gómez
Affiliation:
Agencia Estatal de Meteorología, Valladolid, Spain
Fernando Diez-Martín
Affiliation:
Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: + 1 414 229 5452.
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Abstract

The Pleistocene Humbu and Moinik formations of the Peninj Group in northern Tanzania preserve an important archaeological and paleontological record, in addition to a record of local volcanism in the form of tephra and lavas. Samples of the major Humbu and Moinik formations' basaltic and trachytic tephra were collected and characterized using phenocryst composition and both primary and authigenic mineral assemblage, since the volcanic glass was completely altered to zeolite. Some tephra are distinguishable solely using phenocrysts, but some are too similar in mineral composition or too poor in phenocrysts to definitively “fingerprint” without glass. Titanomagnetite phenocrysts were mostly altered; characterization was thus limited to feldspar, augite, and hornblende compositions for most tephra. Phenocryst compositions were compared to Olduvai tephra compositions to see if any regional tephra could be identified that could help correlate the sites. Augite or hornblende composition rules out potential correlations of Olduvai Bed I Tuff IF and the Bed II Bird Print Tuff or Tuff IID to otherwise similar Peninj Group tephra. Despite their overlap in age and locations at less than ~ 80 km from the Ngorongoro Volcanic Highlands, Peninj and Olduvai have different tephra records, which limits the possibilities for establishing a regional tephrostratigraphic framework.

Keywords

PeninjOlduvai GorgeTanzaniaPleistoceneTephrostratigraphyTephraZeoliteAlteration
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , May 2011 , pp. 708 - 720
Copyright
University of Washington

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