Cryptotephra from a ~120 ka Tondano eruption in a sediment core from Lake Towuti (Indonesia)

2025/06/17 by Jinheum Park, Christine Lane, Clive Oppenheimer +6 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Geological and Geochemical Analysis #Geological and Geophysical Studies #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research

paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/jqs.3730

openalex publication_date 2025/06/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

ABSTRACT Southeast Asia is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world, yet their long‐term eruptive history has been comparatively little studied. In particular, little work has explored the potential of sedimentary archives to record distal cryptotephra, which may help in identifying some of the region's larger Quaternary eruptions. Here, we report the finding of cryptotephra in a sediment core from Lake Towuti (Sulawesi, Indonesia). Based on glass geochemistry and core stratigraphy, we attribute the deposit to a ~120 ka eruption of Tondano, a large caldera situated on the Minahasa peninsula of Sulawesi. The minimal (~38 shards per gram) amount of tephra deposition hints at the limited ecological impact and/or magnitude of the eruption as well as establishing a new isochron that may enable synchronisation of late‐Pleistocene sedimentary archives.

Citations

• Chemical and isotopic systematics of oceanic basalts: implications for mantle composition and processes
• Volcanoes of the World, v.5.2.0
• A 5000-year record of multiple highly explosive mafic eruptions from Gunung Agung (Bali, Indonesia): implications for eruption frequency and volcanic hazards

Discussions

• We report a cryptotephra deposit from a ~120 ka Tondano eruption in a sediment core from Lake Towuti (Indonesia)! doi.org/10.1002/jqs.... [bsky, 6 points, 0 comments]

Related

• A Significant middle Pleistocene tephra deposit preserved in the caves of Mulu, Borneo
• Cryptotephra preserved in Lake Suigetsu (SG14 core) reveals the eruption timing and distribution of ash fall from Japanese volcanoes during the Late-glacial to early Holocene
• Identification of Lower Pleistocene widespread tephras associated with large caldera‐forming eruptions in the Tohoku area, north‐east Japan
• A detailed record of large explosive eruptions from Japan between ∼120 and 50 ka preserved at Lake Suigetsu
• Late Quaternary tephra layers around Raoul and Macauley Islands, Kermadec Arc: implications for volcanic sources, explosive volcanism and tephrochronology