Impact of super-distal ash fallout on tropical hydrology and landscape: a case study from the YTT deposits of the Perak river, Malaysia
Abstract
The Younger Toba Tuff eruption, approximately 73 ka ago, is the largest known for the Quaternary and its climate, environmental and human consequences are keenly debated (Oppenheimer, 2011).While the distribution (Rose and Chesner, 1987; Rose and Chesner, 1990; Chesner et al., 1991; Schulz et al., 2002; Von Rad et al., 2002) , geochemical properties (Shane et al., 1995; Westgate et al., 1998) and volcanic significance (Rampino and Self, 1982; Rampino and Self, 1993; Rampino and Ambrose, 2000; Oppenheimer, 2002; Mason et al., 2004)of the YTT have been widely studied, few attention has been given to the significance of the distal volcanic ash deposits within their receiving basin context. Although several studies exist on the impact of pyroclastic flows on proximal rivers and lakes (Collins and Dunne, 1986; Thompson et al., 1986; Hayes et al., 2002; Németh and Cronin, 2007), only few address the issues of the dynamic of preservation of super-distal fine ash deposits in rivers (also due to the lack of direct data on super-eruptions). It has also been demonstrated that models of the styles and timing of distal volcanoclastic re-sedimentation are more complicated than those developed for proximal settings of stratovolcanoes (Kataoka et al., 2009). We present an analysis of the taphonomy (intended as accumulation and preservation) of distal volcanic ash in fluvial and lacustrian contexts in newly discovered Toungest Toba Tuff sites in the Lenggong valley, western Peninsular Malaysia. The paper aims to characterise the nature of distal tephras in fluvial environments towards a stratigraphic distinction between primary ash and secondary ash, characterisation of the pre-ash fall receiving environment in term of fluvial dynamic and landscape morphology, and assessment of the time of recovery.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFMEP51B0847G
- Keywords:
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- 1051 GEOCHEMISTRY / Sedimentary geochemistry;
- 1807 HYDROLOGY / Climate impacts;
- 8455 VOLCANOLOGY / Tephrochronology;
- 9800 GENERAL OR MISCELLANEOUS