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Long‐distance marker horizons from small‐scale eruptions: British tephra deposits from the AD 1510 eruption of Hekla, Iceland
Author(s) -
DUGMORE ANDREW J.,
NEWTON ANTHONY J.,
EDWARDS KEVIN J.,
LARSEN GUDRÚN,
BLACKFORD JEFFREY J.,
COOK GORDON T.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1417(199611/12)11:6<511::aid-jqs284>3.0.co;2-c
Subject(s) - tephra , icelandic , geology , volcano , holocene , horizon , geochemistry , earth science , oceanography , philosophy , linguistics , physics , astronomy
Icelandic tephras in northwest Europe that have been linked to specific eruptions include those from the major Holocene tephras Hekla 4, Hekla 3, Hekla AD 1104 and Öræfajökull AD 1362. Eight other tephras have been identified in the British Isles and Scandinavia, but they have not been correlated to specific eruptions. Icelandic tephras with volumes at least an order of magnitude smaller than the major Holocene deposits are also capable of forming extensive marker horizons, and although in distant parts these tephras may cover areas >1 × 10 3 km 2 , their distributions are not continuous. In this paper, Tephra deposits from the British Isles, correlated with deposits from the AD 1510 eruption of Hekla (Iceland), are assessed as an example of a distant marker horizon that has been formed by a tephra of a comparativley small volume. Important implications are that these types of tephras may have formed some, if not all, of the eight currently unattributed horizons known in the British Isles, and that extensive tephra horizons are not necessarily associated with environmentally significant eruptions.