Watson, EJ, Swindles, GT, Savov, IP et al. (1 more author) (2015) First discovery of Holocene cryptotephra in Amazonia. Scientific Reports, 5. 15579. ISSN 2045-2322
Abstract
The use of volcanic ash layers for dating and correlation (tephrochronology) is widely applied in the study of past environmental changes. We describe the first cryptotephra (non-visible volcanic ash horizon) to be identified in the Amazon basin, which is tentatively attributed to a source in the Ecuadorian Eastern Cordillera (0–1°S, 78-79°W), some 500-600 km away from our field site in the Peruvian Amazon. Our discovery 1) indicates that the Amazon basin has been subject to volcanic ash fallout during the recent past; 2) highlights the opportunities for using cryptotephras to date palaeoenvironmental records in the Amazon basin and 3) indicates that cryptotephra layers are preserved in a dynamic Amazonian peatland, suggesting that similar layers are likely to be present in other peat sequences that are important for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. The discovery of cryptotephra in an Amazonian peatland provides a baseline for further investigation of Amazonian tephrochronology and the potential impacts of volcanism on vegetation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Authors 2015. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst of Geophysics and Tectonics (IGT) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Ecology & Global Change (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Royal Society RG2010/R2 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 30 Sep 2016 14:04 |
Last Modified: | 30 Sep 2016 14:04 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep15579 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/srep15579 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:105425 |