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Bridging the gap: 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanic eruptions from the ‘Age of Discovery’

Preece, Katie; Mark, Darren F.; Barclay, Jenni; Cohen, Benjamin E.; Chamberlain, Katy J.; Jowitt, Claire; Vye-Brown, Charlotte; Brown, Richard J.; Hamilton, Scott

Bridging the gap: 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanic eruptions from the ‘Age of Discovery’ Thumbnail


Authors

Katie Preece

Darren F. Mark

Jenni Barclay

Benjamin E. Cohen

Katy J. Chamberlain

Claire Jowitt

Charlotte Vye-Brown

Scott Hamilton



Abstract

Many volcanoes worldwide still have poorly resolved eruption histories, with the date of the last eruption often undetermined. One such example is Ascension Island, where the timing of the last eruption, and consequently, the activity status of the volcano, is unclear. Here, we use the 40Ar/39Ar dating technique to resolve ages of the three youngest lava flows on the island, which are hawaiites and mugearite with 1.5 – 1.9 wt% K2O. In dating these lavas, we provide the first evidence of Holocene volcanic activity on Ascension (0.51 ± 0.18 ka; 0.55 ± 0.12 ka; 1.64 ± 0.37 ka), determining that it should be classed as an active volcanic system. In addition, we demonstrate that the 40Ar/39Ar method can reproducibly date mafic lava flows younger than 1 ka, decreasing the gap between recorded history and geological dating. These results offer new prospects for determining patterns of late-Holocene volcanic activity; critical for accurate volcanic hazard assessment.

Citation

Preece, K., Mark, D. F., Barclay, J., Cohen, B. E., Chamberlain, K. J., Jowitt, C., …Hamilton, S. (2018). Bridging the gap: 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanic eruptions from the ‘Age of Discovery’. Geology, 46(12), 1035-1038. https://doi.org/10.1130/g45415.1

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 8, 2018
Online Publication Date Nov 9, 2018
Publication Date Dec 1, 2018
Deposit Date Nov 27, 2018
Publicly Available Date Nov 9, 2019
Journal Geology
Print ISSN 0091-7613
Electronic ISSN 1943-2682
Publisher Geological Society of America
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 46
Issue 12
Pages 1035-1038
DOI https://doi.org/10.1130/g45415.1

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