PUSKURUM · Characterising the proximal pyroclastic deposits in Central Anatolia to improve the recent explosive volcanic history, synchronise sedimentary records, and better assess volcanic hazards in Turkey
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-09-01 → 2024-08-30
- EU contribution
- €183,473
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Characterising the proximal pyroclastic deposits in Central Anatolia to improve the recent explosive volcanic history, synchronise sedimentary records, and better assess volcanic hazards in Turkey
The PÜSKÜRÜM project was proposed to fill the existent gap on the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe tephrostratigraphic framework. Before this Marie Curie action, it was a considerable lack of information about the recent explosive volcanism of the Central Anatolian Volcanic Province (CAVP). The characterisation of proximal pyroclastic deposits erupted by the active Hasandağ, Acigöl and Erciyes volcanoes, has addressed largely this issue, and has contributed to the state-of-the-art with several geochemical and geochronological datasets, as well as geological maps, volcano-stratigraphy logs, and physical parameters quantifications of the studied explosive eruptions. The main results of the PÜSKÜRÜM project so far are being published in 4 research articles, including 1) the identification of a new collapse caldera within the Hasandağ complex (i.e., the Ulukisla caldera); 2) the identification for the first time of a Plinian eruption produced by Hasandağ (i.e., the Belbashani Pumice eruption; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-024-01752-6); 3) the triggering mechanisms of Acigöl caldera-forming eruptions (i.e., the origin of the last two Cappadocian ignimbrites); and 4) the reconstruction of the Holocene explosive volcanic eruptions of the Erciyes, which has 1M of people living atop the related pyroclastic deposits (Kayseri city). These contributions are essential to improve the volcanic hazards assessment in Central Anatolia, and to better evaluate the regional risks and potential impacts of a future eruption. Another important objective of the PÜSKÜRÜM project was to make possible the correlations of tephra layers (i.e., volcanic ash) from unknown source found in distal records (e.g., Mediterranean and Dead sea, paleolakes in Arabia, caves in Egypt, lakes in Romania, etc.). Today, and thanks to the new CAVP geochemical datasets, it is possible to know the source of that volcanic ashes registered in paleoenvironmental archives and archaeological sites along the region. One example of these are the tephras found in a Black Sea-Core (~25 ash layers), which most of them have been correlated by chemical fingerprint (major and trace elements composition) to Erciyes, some to Acigöl and others to Hasandağ volcanoes. These tephrochronological correlations are important for a better quantification of large explosive eruptions (hazard related objectives), but also to synchronise sedimentary records (paleoclimatic objectives).
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The aim of this project is to differentiate and characterize the pyroclastic products from explosive eruptions produced by Açigöl caldera, Hasandağ, and Erciyes stratovolcanoes, which are the most active and largest volcanic structures of the central Anatolian peninsula. This study is necessary to complete the gap in the tephrostratigraphic framework of the easternmost part of Europe and to reconstruct the explosive volcanic history of the region during the upper Pleistocene – Holocene, and therefore, better assess the currently volcanic hazards posed by these volcanoes on the region. The main proximal pyroclastic units of the Central Anatolian Volcanic Province (CAVP) will be identified, mapped, logged, and sampled around major volcanoes. Afterward, their chemical composition and eruption ages will be determined in the laboratory to correlate them to tephra layers deposited in distal records (including sedimentary or paleoclimatic registers). Despite an increasing number of recent studies identified many fine volcanic ash layers that are thought to be from large eruptions of Central Anatolian active volcanoes (e.g. in cores from the Black Sea, Eastern Mediterranean Sea, caves in Egypt, or several small Romanian lakes), little is known about the spatial and temporal scale of explosive volcanism in Turkey. Correlation of these tephra layers by chemical fingerprint is essential to 1) synchronize records and identify their position in high-resolution palaeoenvironmental or archaeological registers, 2) estimate the volume and magnitude of the related eruptions, and 3) determinate how past explosive eruptions could affect the region and its occupants. Such tephrochronologic studies are important to improve our understanding of Anatolian volcanism and to more accurately constrain the hazards that the active volcanoes of CAVP pose to the often-large populations surrounding them (e.g. the 1.3 million people of Kayseri city).
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA · RomaCoordinatorItaly
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union