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Late Quaternary history of the Vakinankaratra volcanic field (central Madagascar): insights from luminescence dating of phreatomagmatic eruption deposits

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Abstract

The Quaternary Vakinankaratra volcanic field in the central Madagascar highlands consists of scoria cones, lava flows, tuff rings, and maars. These volcanic landforms are the result of processes triggered by intracontinental rifting and overlie Precambrian basement or Neogene volcanic rocks. Infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating was applied to 13 samples taken from phreatomagmatic eruption deposits in the Antsirabe–Betafo region with the aim of constraining the chronology of the volcanic activity. Establishing such a chronology is important for evaluating volcanic hazards in this densely populated area. Stratigraphic correlations of eruption deposits and IRSL ages suggest at least five phreatomagmatic eruption events in Late Pleistocene times. In the Lake Andraikiba region, two such eruption layers can be clearly distinguished. The older one yields ages between 109 ± 15 and 90 ± 11 ka and is possibly related to an eruption at the Amboniloha volcanic complex to the north. The younger one gives ages between 58 ± 4 and 47 ± 7 ka and is clearly related to the phreatomagmatic eruption that formed Lake Andraikiba. IRSL ages of a similar eruption deposit directly overlying basement laterite in the vicinity of the Fizinana and Ampasamihaiky volcanic complexes yield coherent ages of 68 ± 7 and 65 ± 8 ka. These ages provide the upper age limit for the subsequently developed Iavoko, Antsifotra, and Fizinana scoria cones and their associated lava flows. Two phreatomagmatic deposits, identified near Lake Tritrivakely, yield the youngest IRSL ages in the region, with respective ages of 32 ± 3 and 19 ± 2 ka. The reported K-feldspar IRSL ages are the first recorded numerical ages of phreatomagmatic eruption deposits in Madagascar, and our results confirm the huge potential of this dating approach for reconstructing the volcanic activity of Late Pleistocene to Holocene volcanic provinces.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this project was provided by the Swiss National Foundation (SNF), Project numbers 200020-105453/1, 200020-118023/1, and 206021–117374, and the Berne University Research Foundation. Sönke Szidat is thanked for high-resolution gamma spectrometry measurements, Marco Herwegh for introducing DR to the SEM, and Jörg Giese, Sally Lowick, Inga Schindelwig, Damian Steffen, Michèle Suchy, and Mareike Trauerstein for helpful discussions and comments. We acknowledge helpful comments from two anonymous reviewers and thank executive editor James D. L. White for additional critical comments which helped to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geological Sciences, Baltzerstrasse 1 + 3, University of Bern, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Daniel Rufer, Guido Schreurs & Alfons Berger

  2. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden

    Frank Preusser

  3. Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Genève, route de Malagnou 1, CP 6434, 1211, Genève 6, Switzerland

    Edwin Gnos

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  1. Daniel Rufer
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Correspondence to Guido Schreurs.

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Editorial responsibility: G. Giordano

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Rufer, D., Preusser, F., Schreurs, G. et al. Late Quaternary history of the Vakinankaratra volcanic field (central Madagascar): insights from luminescence dating of phreatomagmatic eruption deposits. Bull Volcanol 76, 817 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-014-0817-7

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