Laacher See tephra discovered in the Bohemian Forest, Germany, east of the eruption

Kletetschka, Gunther; Vondrák, Daniel; Hruba, Jolana; van der Knaap, Pim; van Leeuwen, Jacqueline F.N.; Heurich, Marco (2019). Laacher See tephra discovered in the Bohemian Forest, Germany, east of the eruption. Quaternary geochronology, 51, pp. 130-139. Elsevier 10.1016/j.quageo.2019.02.003

[img] Text
2019_QuatGeochron_51_130.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to registered users only
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (1MB)

We present a geochemically confirmed finding of the Laacher See tephra (LST), directly east of the Laacher See volcano (LSV). European lake sediment (Rachelsee, Germany) contains the time period of the Laacher See volcanic explosion (LSE) ca. 12900 yr cal BP in the East Eifel volcanic field. This eruption significantly affected the local environment but its impact in regions far east from its source is poorly known. The lake sediment sequence showed an enhancement in magnetic susceptibility and an increase in concentration in niobium and phosphorus. These enhancements correlated with direct tephra particle observations whose geochemical analysis compared well with the published LST data from proximal sites. Detailed analyses revealed a most likely match with tephra known to have been deposited during the middle phase of the eruption. We suggest that contrary to other published studies, the LST cloud traveled directly east, as far as 470 km, from the volcano,. The pollen record shows minimal change during the tephra deposition, thus indicating that the LSE had no noticeable influence on vegetation in eastern Bavaria and the southern part of the Czech Republic. The discovery of the LST at Rachelsee, opens the potential of further tephrochronological studies in regions to the east of the LSV.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) > Palaeoecology
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS)

UniBE Contributor:

van der Knaap, Pim, van Leeuwen, Jacqueline Francisca

Subjects:

500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)

ISSN:

1871-1014

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Peter Alfred von Ballmoos-Haas

Date Deposited:

09 May 2019 16:48

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:31

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.quageo.2019.02.003

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Laacher See tephra; Rachelsee lake; Phosphorus; Niobium; Pollen; Magnetic susceptibility

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.128444

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/128444

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback