Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Geochemistry and constrained 40Ar/39Ar dating of Youngest Toba Tuff glass shards, Purna alluvial basin, Central India

  • Published:
Journal of Earth System Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Geochemistry and 40Ar/39Ar dating of glass shards of Youngest Toba Tuff ash from two localities, i.e., Gandhigram (G-2) and Hudki (H-1) of the Purna alluvial basin, Central India have been carried out. Major oxides, determined by EPMA, exhibit SiO2 (78.4–79.6 wt%), Al2O3 (11.7–13.0 wt%), Na2O (2.0–2.6 wt%) and K2O (3.4–4.4 wt%) and minor and trace elements, analyzed by ICP-MS, reveal higher contents of LREEs, i.e., La (26.52–27.15 ppm), Ce (50.25–51.26 ppm), Pr (5.02–5.24 ppm), Nd (20.1–21.31 ppm), Sm (3.1–3.36 ppm) and lower values of HREEs, i.e., Tb (0.5–0.57 ppm), Ho (0.5–0.6 ppm), Tm (0.28–0.35 ppm), Yb (2.68–2.94 ppm), Lu (0.45–0.48 ppm) along with prominent dip of Eu. Trace elements show high content of Rb (188.6–200.6 ppm), Sr (37.79–48.14 ppm), Ba (347.9–375.6 ppm) and low Ga (8.90–9.67 ppm), Sc (2.33–3.09 ppm), Nb (10.24–11.6 ppm). The chemical composition of glass shards is similar to the Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) ash reported from Indian peninsula and Malaysia including Toba Caldera. The 40Ar/39Ar dates show plateau ages of 0.79 ± 0.02 Ma (790 ± 0.02 ka) and 0.77 ± 0.05 Ma (770 ± 0.05 ka) for ash of Gandhigram and Hudki localities. These dates seem to be geologically meaningless and are not acceptable as the YTT ash is universally considered to be of ca. 75 ka age based on geochemistry, fission track and 40Ar/39Ar dating of ash minerals. Therefore, the dates presently generated through 40Ar/39Ar technique on glass shards are being discarded considering mobile behaviour of Ar isotopes, alkalis in the melts and glass shards due to isotopic fractionation and post-depositional processes.

Highlights

  • Glass shards geochemistry of Toba ash from Purna basin, India suggest its compositional similarities with the YTT ash of several river basins of India, Malaysia, ocean basins and source area of Toba Caldera, Indonesia.

  • 40Ar/39Ar ages of 790 ± 0.02 ka and 770 ± 0.05 ka, on glass shards, are exceptionally high as compared to YTT, therefore, unrealistic and unacceptable, hence, rejected. Literature survey shows that 40Ar/39Ar dating results of volcanic glass shards in particular are influenced by magmatic and post-depositional processes.

  • Sedimentological attributes and lithofacies architecture of ash-bearing successions reveal fluvio-lacustrine set-up of deposition for the ash.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acharya S K and Basu P K 1993 Toba ash on the Indian Subcontinent and its implications for correlations of Late Pleistocene alluvium; Quat. Res. 40(1) 10–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose S H 1998 Late Pleistocene human population, bottlenecks, volcanic winter, and differentiation of modern humans; J. Hum. Evol. 34 623–651.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bidias L A Z, Chazot G, Moundi A and Nonnotte P 2018 Extreme source heterogeneity and complex contamination pattern along the Cameroon Volcanic Line: New geochemical data from the Bamoun plateau; C.R. Geosci. 350 100–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biswas R H, Williams M A J, Raj R, Juyal N and Singhvi A K 2013 Methodological studies on luminescence dating of volcanic ash; Quat. Geol. 17 14–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buhring C, Sarnthein M and Leg 184 Shipboard Scientific P 2000 Toba ash layers in the South China Sea: Evidence of contrasting wind direction during eruption ca. 74 ka; Geology 28 275–278.

  • Cerling T E, Brown F H and Bowman J R 1985 Low-temperature alteration of volcanic glass: Hydration, Na, K 18O and Ar mobility; Chem. Geol. 52 281–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesner C A and Luhr J F 2010 A melt inclusion study of the Toba Tuffs, Sumatra, Indonesia; J. Volcanol. Geoth. Res. 197 259–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chesner C A, Rose W I, Deino A, Drake R and Westgate J A 1991 Eruptive history of the Earth’s largest Quaternary Caldera (Toba, Indonesia) clarified; Geology 19 200–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clay P L, Busemann H, Sherlock S C, Barry T L, Kelley S P and McGarvie D W 2015 40Ar/39Ar ages and residual volatile contents in degassed subaerial and subglacial glassy volcanic rocks from Iceland; Chem. Geol. 403 99–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coulter S E, Pilcher J R, Hall V A, Plunkett G and Davies S M 2009 Testing the reliability of the JEOL FEGSEM 6500F electron microprobe for quantitative major element analysis of glass shards from rhyolitic tephra; Boreas 39 163–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dehn J, Farrell J W and Schminke H U 1991 Neogene tephrochronology from Site 758 on Ninety East Ridge: Indonesian arc volcanism of the past 5 Ma; Pro. Ocean Drilling Prog., Sci. Results 121 273–295.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diehl J F, Onstott T C, Chesner C A and Knight M D 1987 No short reversals of Brunhes age recorded in the Toba tuffs, north Sumatra, Indonesia; Geophys. Res. Lett. 14 753–756.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flude S, Tuffen H and Sherlock S C 2018 Spatially heterogenous argon-isotope systematic and apparent 40Ar/39Ar ages in perlitised obsidian; Chem. Geol. 480 44–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gasparotto G, Spadafora E, Summa V and Tateo F 2000 Contribution of grain size and compositional data from the Bengal Fan sediment to the understanding of Toba volcanic event; Mar. Geol. 162(2–4) 561–572.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gatti E, Durand A J, Gibbard P L and Oppenheimer C 2011 Youngest Toba Tuff in the Son valley, India: A weak and discontinuous stratigraphic marker; J. Quat. Sci. Rev. 30 3925–3934.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gatti E, Saidin M, Talib K, Rashidi N A, Gibbard P and Oppenheimer C 2012 Depositional processes of reworked tephra from the Late Pleistocene Youngest Toba Tuff deposits in the Lenggong Valley, Malaysia; Quat. Res. 79 228–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gatti E, Villa I M, Achyuthan H, Gibbard P L and Oppenheimer C 2014 Geochemical variability in distal and proximal glass from the Youngest Toba Tuff eruption; Bull. Volcanol. 76 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horn P, Muller-Solmus D, Storzer D and Zoller L 1993 K–Ar, fission-track and thermoluminescence ages of Quaternary volcanic tuffs and their bearing on Acheulian artefacts from Bori, Kukdi valley, Pune District, India; Zeit. Deut. Geo. Gesell. Band 144 326–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jayaprakash C, Jayakumar R, Dinesh A C, Maran N and Shareef N M 2009 Tephra from Quaternary sediments of western slope of Lakshadweep Ridge, Arabian Sea; Curr. Sci. 97(11) 1670–1674.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jezek P A and Noble D C 1978 Natural hydration and ion exchange of obsidian: An electron microprobe study; Am. Mineral. 63 266–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones S C 2007 The Toba supervolcanic eruption: Tephra-fall deposits in India and paleoanthropological implications; In: The evolution and history of human populations in South Asia, Springer, pp. 173–200.

  • Jones S C 2010 Palaeoenvironment response to the ~74 Toba ash-fall in the Jurreru and Middle Son valleys in southern and north-central India; Quat. Res. 73 336–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jourdan F, Matzel J P and Renne P R 2007 39Ar and 37Ar recoil loss during neutron irradiation of sanidine and plagioclase; Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 71 2791–2808.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kale V M 2010 Sedimentological studies of Purna Basin with special reference to environment of deposition; Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, SGB Amravati University, Amravati, 256p.

  • Kaneoka I 1980 Rare gas isotopes and mass fractionation: An indicator of gas transport into or from a magma; Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 4 284–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley S 2002 Excess argon in K–Ar and Ar–Ar geochronology; Chem. Geol. 188 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korisettar R, Venkatesan T R, Mishra S, Rajaguru S N, Somayajulu B L K, Tandon S K, Gogte V D, Ganjoo R K and Kale V S 1989 Discovery of a tephra bed in the Quaternary alluvial sediments of Pune District (Maharashtra), peninsular India; Curr. Sci. 58 564–567.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krummenacher D 1970 Isotopic composition of argon in modern surface volcanic rocks; Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 8 109–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lane C S, Chorn B T and Johnson T C 2013 Ash from the Toba supereruption in Lake Malawi shows no volcanic winter in East Africa at 75 ka; PNAS 110(20) 8025–8029.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bas M J, Lemaitre R W, Strecheisen A and Zanettin B 1986 A chemical classification of volcanic rocks based on the Total Alkalis versus Silica diagram; J. Petrol. 27(3) 745–750.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis L, Ditchfield P, Pal J N and Petraglia M 2012 Grain size distribution analysis of sediments containing Youngest Toba tephra from Ghoghra, Middle Son valley, India; Quat. Res. 258 180–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liang X, Wei G, Shao L, Li X and Wang R 2001 Records of Toba eruptions in the South China Sea; chemical characteristics of the glass shards from ODP 1143A; Sci. China Series D: Earth. Sci. 44 871–878.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Z, Colin C and Trentesaux A 2006 Major elements geochemistry of glass shards and minerals of the Youngest Toba Tephra in the southwestern South China Sea; J. Asian Earth Sci. 27 99–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowe D J 2011 Tephrochronology and its application: A review; Quat. Geol. 6 107–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mark D F, Petraglia M, Smith V C, Morgan L E, Barford D N, Ellis B S, Pearce N J, Pal J N and Korisettar R 2014 A high-precision 40Ar/39Ar age for the Young Toba Tuff and dating of Ultra-distal tephra: Forcing of quaternary climate and implications for hominin occupation of India; Quat. Int. 21 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason B G, Pyle D M and Oppenheimer C 2004 The size and frequency of the largest explosive eruptions on Earth; Bull. Volcanol. 66 735–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miall A D 1996 The Geology of Fluvial Deposits; Springer, Berlin, 581p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishra S, Venkatesan T R, Rajaguru S N and Somayajulu B L K 1995 Earliest Acheulian industry from peninsular India; Curr. Anthropol. 36 847–851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan L E, Renne P R, Taylor R E and WoldeGabriel G 2009 Archeological age constraints from extrusion ages of obsidian examples from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia; Quat. Geochronol. 4 193–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura N 1974 Determination of REE, Ba, Fe, Mg, Na, and K in carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites; Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 38 757–775.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ninkovich D, Shackleton N J and Abdel A A 1978 K–Ar age of the late Pleistocene eruption of Toba, north Sumatra; Nature 276 574–577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nishimura S, Abe E, Yojoyama T, Wirasantosa S and Dharma A 1977 Danau Toba – the outline of Lake Toba, north Sumatra, Indonesia; Paleolimnology of Lake Biwa; Japan Pleist. 5 313–332.

  • Noble D C 1967 Sodium, potassium, and ferrous iron contents of some secondarily hydrated natural silicic glasses; Am. Mineral. 52 280–287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paine J H, Nomade S and Renne P R 2006 Quantification of Ar-39 recoil ejection from GA1550 biotite during neutron irradiation as a function of grain dimensions; Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 70 1507–1517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pattan J N, Shane P and Banakar V K 1999 New occurrence of Youngest Toba Tuff in abyssal sediments of the Central Indian Basin; Mar. Geol. 155 243–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pattan J N, Shane P, Pearce N J G, Banakar V K and Parthiban G 2001 An occurrence of 74 ka Youngest Toba Tephra from the western continental margin of India; Curr. Sci. 80 1322–1326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petraglia M D, Ditchfield P, Jones S, Korisetter R and Pal J N 2012 The Toba volcanic super-eruption, environmental change, and hominin occupation history in India over the last 140,000 years; Quat. Int. 258 119–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rampino M R and Ambrose S H 2000 Volcanic winter in the Garden of Eden: The Toba super eruption and the late Pleistocene human population crash. In: Volcanic Hazards and Disasters in Human Antiquity (eds) McCoy F W and Heiken G, Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Paper 345 71–82.

  • Rampino M R and Self S 1992 Volcanic winter and accelerated glaciation following the Toba super eruption; Nature 359 50–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rampino M R and Self S 1993 Bottleneck in human evolution and the Toba eruption; Science 262(5142) 1955.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renne P R, Swisher C C, Deino A L, Karner D B, Owens T L and DePaolo D J 1998 Intercalibration of standards, absolute ages and uncertainties in 40Ar/39Ar dating; Chem. Geol. 145 117–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose W I and Chesner C A 1987 Dispersal of ash in the great Toba eruption, 75 ka; Geology 15 913–917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shane P, Westgate J, Williams M and Korisettar R 1995 New geochemical evidence for the youngest Toba Tuff in India; Quat. Res. 44 200–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith V C, Pearce N J G, Mathews N E, Westgate J A, Petraglia M, Haslam M, Lane C S, Korisettar R and Pal J N 2011 Geochemical fingerprinting of the widespread Toba tephra using biotite compositions; Quat. Int. 246 97–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Song S R, Chen C H, Lee M Y, Yang T F, Lizuka Y and Wei K Y 2000 Newly discovered eastern dispersal of the youngest Toba Tuff; Mar. Geol. 167 303–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava A K, Bansod M, Singh A and Sharma N 2019 Geochemistry of paleosols and calcretes from Quaternary sediments of Purna alluvial basin, Central India: An emphasis on paleoclimate; Rhizosphere 11 100162.

  • Srivastava A K and Singh A 2019a Nature, occurrence and lithological setup of the Youngest Toba Tuff volcanic ash, Purna alluvial basin, Central India; J. Geol. 127 593–610, https://doi.org/10.1086/705326.

  • Srivastava A K and Singh A 2019b YTT ash from Quaternary sediments of Kapileshwar area, Purna alluvial basin, Central India; Quat. Int. 500 96–107.

  • Srivastava A K and Singh A 2020 Lithological, physical and chemical attributes of primary volcanic ash of YTT, Purna alluvial basin, Central India; Geol. J. 55(10) 7011–7023, https://doi.org/10.1002/gj.3820.

  • Srivastava A K, Singh A, Sharma N and Khare N 2020 Weathering pattern of Youngest Toba Tuff, Purna alluvial basin, Central India; Arab. J. Geosci. 13 607, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-05641-y.

  • Timmreck C, Graf H F, Zanchettin D and Hagemann S 2012 Climate response to the Toba Super-eruption: Regional changes; Quat. Int. 258 30–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiwari M P, Bhai H Y and Varade A M 2010 Stratigraphy and tephra beds of the Purna Quaternary basin, Maharashtra, India; Gondwana Geol. Mag. 12 283–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsong I S T, Houser C A, Yusef N A, Messier R F, White W B and Michels J W 1978 Obsidian hydration profiles measured by sputter-induced optical emission; Science 201 339–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson E J, Kolaczek P, Slowinski M, Swindles G T, Marcisz K, Galka M and Lamentowicz M 2017 First discovery of Holocene Alaskan and Icelandic tephra in Polish peatlands; J. Quat. Sci. Rev. 32 457–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westgate J A, Shane P A R, Pearce N J G, Perkins W T, Korisetter R, Chesner C A, Williams M A J and Acharya S K 1998 All Toba tephra occurrences across peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr B.P. eruption; Quat. Res. 50 107–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westway R, Mishra S, Deo S and Bridgland D R 2011 Methods for determination of the age of Pleistocene tephra, derived from eruption of Toba, in central India; J. Earth Syst. Sci. 120 503–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White A F 1983 Surface chemistry and dissolution kinetics of glassy rocks at 25 °C; Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 47(4) 805–815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams M A J, Ambrose S H, Van der Kaars S, Ruehlemann C, Chattopadhyaya U, Pal J N and Chauhan P R 2009 Environmental impact of the 73 ka Toba super-eruption in South Asia; Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol. 284 295–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams M A J and Royce K 1982 Quaternary geology of the middle Son valley, north central India: Implications for prehistoric Archaeology; Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 38 139–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams M 2012b The ~73 ka Toba super-eruption and its impact: History of a debate; Quat. Int. 258 19–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright V P, Platt N H, Marriot S B and Beck V H 1995 A classification of rhizogenic (root-formed) calcretes with examples from Upper Jurassic–Lower Carboniferous of Spain and Upper Cretaceous of southern France; Sedim. Geol. 100 143–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zielinski G A, Mayewski P A, Meeker L D, Whitlow S and Twickler M S 1996 Potential atmospheric impact of the Toba mega-eruption ~71,000 years ago; Geophys. Res. Lett. 23 837–840.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work has been carried out with the financial aid of SERB, New Delhi in the form of a major research project (no. SB/S4/ES-692/2013) awarded to AKS. The authors are thankful to Dr K Pande and Dr S C Patel, Department of Earth Sciences, IIT, Powai, Mumbai for providing Ar/Ar and EPMA data, respectively. Thanks are also extended to Dr J N Pattan, NIO, Goa for ICP-MS analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, SGB Amravati University, Amravati, 444 602, India

    Ashok K Srivastava & Ajab Singh

Authors
  1. Ashok K Srivastava
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ajab Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

The contributions made by individual authors are as follows: AKS: Collection of field data and samples, photo documentation, lithofacies analysis, sieving of the ash samples, supervision to coauthor during sample preparation, interpretation of the lab data; concept, writing and finalization of the manuscript. AS: Collection of field data and samples, separation of glass shards from bulk ash for EPMA, ICP-MS and Ar/Ar dating, preparation of samples and to assist for EPMA at IITB, Powai, Mumbai; preparation of all figures, geochemical plots and tables; interpretation of the lab data, draft preparation, writing and finalization of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ajab Singh.

Additional information

Communicated by N V Chalapathi Rao

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Srivastava, A.K., Singh, A. Geochemistry and constrained 40Ar/39Ar dating of Youngest Toba Tuff glass shards, Purna alluvial basin, Central India. J Earth Syst Sci 130, 10 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01513-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01513-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation