Volcanic plumes and wind: Jetstream interaction examples and implications for air traffic

Volcanic plumes interact with the wind at all scales. On smaller scales, wind affects local eddy structure; on larger scales, wind shapes the entire plume trajectory. The polar jets or jetstreams are regions of high [generally eastbound] winds that span the globe from 30 to 60° in latitude, centered at an altitude of about 10 km. They can be hundreds of kilometers wide, but as little as 1 km in thickness. Core windspeeds are up to 130 m/s. Modern transcontinental and transoceanic air routes are configured to take advantage of the jetstream. Eastbound commercial jets can save both time and fuel by flying within it; westbound aircraft generally seek to avoid it.Using both an integral model of plume motion that is formulated within a plume-centered coordinate system (BENT) as well as the Active Tracer High-resolution Atmospheric Model (ATHAM), we have calculated plume trajectories and rise heights under different wind conditions. Model plume trajectories compare well with the observed plume trajectory of the Sept 30/Oct 1, 1994, eruption of Kliuchevskoi Volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, for which measured maximum windspeed was 30–40 m/s at about 12 km. Tephra fall patterns for some prehistoric eruptions of Avachinsky Volcano, Kamchatka, and Inyo Craters, CA, USA, are anomalously elongated and inconsistent with simple models of tephra dispersal in a constant windfield. The Avachinsky deposit is modeled well by BENT using a windspeed that varies with height.Two potentially useful conclusions can be made about air routes and volcanic eruption plumes under jetstream conditions. The first is that by taking advantage of the jetstream, aircraft are flying within an airspace that is also preferentially occupied by volcanic eruption clouds and particles. The second is that, because eruptions with highly variable mass eruption rate pump volcanic particles into the jetstream under these conditions, it is difficult to constrain the tephra grain size distribution and mass loading present within a downwind volcanic plume or cloud that has interacted with the jetstream. Furthermore, anomalously large particles and high mass loadings could be present within the cloud, if it was in fact formed by an eruption with a high mass eruption rate. In terms of interpretation of tephra dispersal patterns, the results suggest that extremely elongated isopach or isopleth patterns may often be the result of eruption into the jetstream, and that estimation of the mass eruption rate from these elongated patterns should be considered cautiously.     

Tephra deposition on glaciers and ice sheets on Mars: Influence on ice survival, debris content and flow behavior

We examine the consequences of pyroclastic deposits being emplaced onto ice layers on Mars, both those in the polar caps and those forming glaciers on the flanks of some of the large shield volcanoes. We show that layers of pyroclasts greater than a few meters in thickness, whether emplaced cold (as fall deposits) or hot (as pyroclastic density current deposits) act almost exclusively to protect ice layers beneath them from sublimation, irrespective of whether they are emplaced at high or low elevations or high or low latitudes. Layers less than about 2 m thick, on the other hand, can cause significant ice loss by raising the surface temperature due to their low albedo and then transmitting that increased temperature to the underlying ice, especially on a diurnal time scale. This can have a significant bearing on the emplacement history of polar water ice and on the survival time of glacial ice on shield volcano flanks. A key factor in the latter case is the timing of the episodic volcanic activity relative to the cycles of climate change driven by Mars' obliquity and eccentricity variations.     

Holocene tephra horizons at Klocka Bog,west‐central Sweden: aspects of reproducibility in subarctic peat deposits

This paper presents one of the most extensive Holocene tephra records found to date in Scandinavia. Microtephra horizons originating from Icelandic eruptions were recorded in two ca. 2 m thick peat profiles at Klocka Bog in west‐central Sweden. Five of the microtephra horizons were geochemically correlated to the Askja‐1875, Hekla‐3, Kebister, Hekla‐4 and Lairg A tephras respectively. Radiocarbon‐based dating of these tephras broadly agree with previously published ages from Iceland, Sweden, Germany and the British Isles. The identification of the Lairg A tephra demonstrates a more widespread distribution than previously thought, extending the usefulness of Icelandic Holocene tephrochronology further north into west‐central Scandinavia. Long‐lasting snow cover and seasonal wind distribution in the lower stratosphere are suggested as factors that may be responsible for fragmentary tephra deposition patterns in peat deposits of subarctic Scandinavia. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Glacial and Holocene history of former Salziger See, Central Germany, and its climatic and environmental implications

An 8.40 m long sediment sequence from the Salziger See basin, Central Germany, was investigated by a multi-disciplinary approach including chronological, sedimentological, geo- and biogeochemical methods. Radiocarbon dating, conducted on ten samples of aquatic and terrestrial fossil remains, and the occurrence of the Laacher See Tephra (LST) reveal that the sediment sequence comprises the Late Glacial and Holocene lake history since ca. 13,800 cal. year BP. This onset of lacustrine sedimentation is almost 7,000 years earlier as assumed so far. The geo- and biogeochemical data indicate distinct variations throughout the Late Glacial, which can be correlated with cold and warm periods, such as the Oldest Dryas, the Bølling, the Allerød, and the Younger Dryas. During most of the Holocene, minor variations in the geo- and biogeochemical data and a high carbonate content due to the formation and precipitation of autochthonous carbonate in the lake indicate relatively stable lacustrine conditions. A slight change in the sedimentary conditions between 6,700 and 4,000 cal. year BP, with lower deposition of carbonate and fine material, can be traced back to enhanced subrosion in the basin. Increased deposition of coarser sediments and a high accumulation of heavy metals document intensive human activity in the region during the past ca. 1,000 years.This revised version was published online in March 2005 with corrections to Table 1.     

Correlation of the Hakkoda–Kokumoto Tephra, a widespread Middle Pleistocene tephra erupted from the Hakkoda Caldera, northeast Japan

Abstract A Middle Pleistocene widespread tephra referred to here as Hakkoda–Kokumoto Tephra (Hkd–Ku) has been newly recognized. Hkd–Ku, derived from the Hakkoda Caldera located in northernmost Honshu Is. of northeast Japan, covers much of Honshu Is. At the type locality in the proximal area, Hkd–Ku comprises Plinian pumice deposits and an immediately overlying ignimbrite. The fine vitric ash nature of the distal ash‐fall deposits of Hkd–Ku suggests that they are coignimbrite ash‐fall deposits. Hkd–Ku was identified using a combination of refractive indices and chemical compositions of major, trace and rare earth elements of glass shards, heavy mineral content, refractive indices of orthopyroxene and paleomagnetic polarity. On the basis of these properties, Hkd–Ku was identified in Oga and Boso Peninsulas and Osaka Plain, 830 km southwest of the source. Stratigraphic positions in Boso Peninsula and Osaka Plain within marine sediments that have a reliable chronology based on oxygen‐isotope, and litho‐, bio‐, magneto‐ and tephrostratigraphy indicate that the age of Hkd–Ku is ca 760 ka, positioned in the transition between marine oxygen‐isotope stages 19.1 and 18.4. The widespread occurrence of Hkd–Ku providing a tie line between many different Pleistocene sections over a distance of 800 km is a key marker horizon in the early part of the Middle Pleistocene. This tephra gives a time control point of ca 760 ka to marine sediments in the Oga Peninsula – where no datum plane exists between the Brunhes–Matuyama chron boundary and oxygen‐isotope stage 12 – and to the volcanostratigraphy of the Hakkoda Caldera. The distribution of Hkd–Ku showing emplacement of coignimbrite ash‐fall deposits in the area 830 km southwest of the source emphasizes the upwind transport direction, relative to the prevailing westerly winds, typical of other coignimbrite ash‐fall deposits in the Japanese islands.     

Quartz and polymineral luminescence dating of Japanese loess over the last 0.6 Ma: Comparison with an independent chronology

There are only a few luminescence dating studies of loess sediments in Japan, but interleaved with these deposits are many well-described tephras of known age based on ¹⁴C and fission track analysis; these independent age controls provide an opportunity to test the reliability of loess luminescence ages. This study provides such a comparison at two sites in central Honshu, the largest island in the Japanese archipelago. Samples were collected from sequences of interleaved volcanic tephra and loess deposited on a Middle Pleistocene river terrace in the Niigata Prefecture and on an Early to Middle Pleistocene dissected fluvial surface at in the Tochigi Prefecture, Honshu. Equivalent doses (D_e) were estimated from fine grains (4–11 μm) using both polymineral IR-OSL and (post-IR) blue-OSL, and quartz blue-OSL. The blue-stimulated luminescence signals could be represented by up to three exponentially decaying components; only the most light sensitive of these components was used in the final D_e estimation. Almost all the estimates of D_e from polymineral IR-OSL are smaller than those from polymineral (post-IR) blue-OSL and quartz blue-OSL, whereas the latter two are in good agreement. The blue-light stimulated luminescence ages using the most light sensitive component are shown to be in good agreement with the independent control, up to 500 ka. Although the IR-OSL signals underestimate the known age, a simple laboratory fading test is found empirically to correct for this underestimation. We conclude that the most rapidly blue-stimulated luminescence signals from quartz extracted from our loess samples give reliable ages, and that future loess dating studies should concentrate on these signals.     

Geochemical characterization of marker tephra layers from major Holocene eruptions,Kamchatka Peninsula,Russia

Kamchatka Peninsula is one of the most active volcanic regions in the world. Many Holocene explosive eruptions have resulted in widespread dispersal of tephra-fall deposits. The largest layers have been mapped and dated by the ¹⁴C method. The tephra provide valuable stratigraphic markers that constrain the age of many geological events (e.g. volcanic eruptions, palaeotsunamis, faulting, and so on). This is the first systematic attempt to use electron microprobe (EMP) analyses of glass to characterize individual tephra deposits in Kamchatka. Eighty-nine glass samples erupted from 11 volcanoes, representing 27 well-identified Holocene key-marker tephra layers, were analysed. The glass is rhyolitic in 21 tephra, dacitic in two, and multimodal in three. Two tephra are mixed with glass compositions ranging from andesite/dacite to rhyolite. Tephra from the 11 eruptive centres are distinguished by their glass K₂O, CaO, and FeO contents. In some cases, individual tephra from volcanoes with multiple eruptions cannot be differentiated. Trace element compositions of 64 representative bulk tephra samples erupted from 10 volcanoes were analysed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) as a pilot study to further refine the geochemical characteristics; tephra from these volcanoes can be characterized using Cr and Th contents and La/Yb ratios.

Unidentified tephra collected at the islands of Karaginsky (3), Bering (11), and Attu (5) as well as Uka Bay (1) were correlated to known eruptions. Glass compositions and trace element data from bulk tephra samples show that the Karaginsky Island and Uka Bay tephra were all erupted from the Shiveluch volcano. The 11 Bering Island tephra are correlated to Kamchatka eruptions. Five tephra from Attu Island in the Aleutians are tentatively correlated with eruptions from the Avachinsky and Shiveluch volcanoes.     

Late Holocene diatoms in Lake Poukawa: Effects of airfall tephra and changes in depth

Lake Poukawa, a shallow hardwater lake, is situated on calcareous lake silt overlying peat and alluvium. Two tephra layers, Taupo Pumice and Waimihia Lapilli, aged c. 2000 and 3500 calendar years respectively, were present in four cores (c. 6 m long) of the lake sediment. The diatom flora of the cores was studied to find any indication of changes in the lake morphology and to assess the effects of tephra deposition. Increased abundance of small Fragilaria spp. appears to indicate periods when the lake was less extensive, c. 3700–3500 y ago, and c. 2800–3000 y ago. In the recent past, increased abundance of Fragilaria spp. in lake sediment near the present southern margin almost certainly coincides with artificial draining since A.D. 1931. The occurrence of marine sponge spicules in the cores probably indicates that rates of erosion in the catchment were low before 2500 y ago and high 100–0 y ago. Diatom samples taken at close intervals adjacent to the Taupo and Waimihia tephras indicate that above the ash estimated numbers of diatoms per unit dry weight increase, but the proportion of epiphytic species decreases. Some of the possible causes of this increase are discussed. The tephra layers possibly preserved more diatom frustules, or increased diatom growth by supplying silica, phosphorus, and sulphur nutrients directly, or organic matter from vegetation damage in the surrounding catchment. Alternatively, in shallow hardwater lakes, if acids are deposited with the tephra and its fine particles form an impermeable layer on the calcite sediments the lake will become less alkaline and nutrient depleted.