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Tephrochronology of the southernmost Andean Southern Volcanic Zone, Chile

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Abstract

Correlations among and identification of the source volcanoes for over 60 Late Glacial and Holocene tephras preserved in eight lacustrine sediment cores taken from small lakes near Coyhaique, Chile (46° S), were made based on the stratigraphic position of the tephra in the cores, lithostratigraphic data (tephra layer thickness and grain size), and tephra petrochemistry (glass color and morphology, phenocryst phases, and bulk-tephra trace element contents determined by ICP-MS). The cores preserve a record of explosive eruptions, since ∼17,800 calibrated years before present (cal years BP), of the volcanoes of the southernmost Andean Southern Volcanic Zone (SSVZ). The suggested source volcanoes for 55 of these tephras include Hudson (32 events), Mentolat (10 events), and either Macá or Cay or some of the many minor monogenetic eruptive centers (MECs; 13 events) in the area. Only four of these eruptions had been previously identified in tephra outcrops in the region, indicating the value of lake cores for identifying smaller eruptions in tephrochronologic studies. The tephra records preserved in these lake cores, combined with those in marine cores, which extend these records back to 20,000 cal years BP, prior to the Last Glacial Maximum, suggest that no significant temporal change in the frequency of explosive eruptions was associated with deglaciation. Over this time period, Hudson volcano, one of the largest and longest lived volcanoes in the Southern Andes, has had >55 eruptions (four of them were very large) and has produced >45 km3 of pyroclastic material, making it also one of the most active volcanoes in the SVZ in terms of both frequency and volume of explosive eruptions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank M. Kaplan, M. Fletcher, I. Vilanova, W. Henriquez, and E. Simi for their assistance in the field in obtaining the cores. This research was supported by Fondecyt (Chile) grant no. 1121141, the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity grants ICM P05-002 and PFB-23, and the Department of Geological Sciences, CU-Boulder. We would also like to thank the Nightingale and Weller families for their continued support. S. Watt, S. Kuehn, and an unidentified reviewer provide many helpful comments on an early version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309-0399, USA

    D. J. Weller & C. R. Stern

  2. Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile

    C. G. Miranda & P. I. Moreno

  3. Gaia-Antartica, Universidad de Magallanes, Avenida Bulnes 01890, Punta Arenas, Chile

    R. Villa-Martínez

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  1. D. J. Weller
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  2. C. G. Miranda
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  3. P. I. Moreno
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Correspondence to C. R. Stern.

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Weller, D.J., Miranda, C.G., Moreno, P.I. et al. Tephrochronology of the southernmost Andean Southern Volcanic Zone, Chile. Bull Volcanol 77, 107 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-015-0991-2

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