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Origin and tempo of Miocene large caldera forming silicic eruptions in the Pannonian basin: What we can learn from the zircon and volcanic glass database

Réka Lukács1, Mihovil Brlek2, Nina Trinajstić2, Razvan Bercea3,4, Sorin Filipescu3, Samuel Rybar5,6, Katarína Šarinová7, Viktória Subová5, Slavomír Nehyba8, Péter Gál1, János Szepesi 1,9, Krisztina Sebe10, Sándor Józsa11, Jörn-Frederik Wotzlaw12, H. Albert Gilg13, Marcel Guillong12, Maxim Portnyagin14, Maurizio Petrelli15, Sean P. Gaynor16, Dawid Szymanowski12, Olivier Bachmann12, Attila Virág1,9, Szabolcs Harangi1,9

  • Affiliations: 1MTA--HUN-REN CSFK Lendület \"Momentum\" PannonianVolcano Research Group, Institute for Geological and Geochemical Research, HUN-REN Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary; 2Croatian Geological Survey, Department of Geology, Zagreb, Croatia; 3Babeș-Bolyai University, Department of Geology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; 4S.N.G.N. Romgaz S.A., Tîrgu-Mureș, Romania; 5Department of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia; 6Department of Geodesy and Mine Surveying, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Technical University of Ostrava, Ostrava Poruba, Czech Republic; 7Department of mineralogy, petrology and economic geology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia; 8Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; 9HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary; 10HUN-REN-MTM-ELTE Research Group for Paleontology, Budapest, Hungary; 11Eötvös Loránd University, Dept. of Petrology and Geochemistry, Volcanology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary; 12ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland; 13Engineering Geology, TUM School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Germany; 14GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany; 15Department of Physics and Geology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy; 16U.S. Geological Survey, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Denver, USA

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Thursday 16:30 - 18:30, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 69

  • Programme No: 3.11.29

  • Theme 3 > Session 11

Abstract

Neogene to Quaternary magmatic activity in the Pannonian Basin (Eastern Central Europe) was preceded with the most voluminous silicic volcanic eruptions in Europe in the last 20 Myr. They resulted cumulatively in more than 4,000 km3 of tephra deposited during a period of major lithospheric extension. The timing of the largest eruptions has been determined using zircon U-Pb geochronology, indicating several eruptive phases between 18.1 Ma and 14.4 Ma, representative of an ignimbrite flare-up period, followed by further eruptions to the east between 13.1 Ma and 11.5 Ma. Volcanic glass, zircon and bulk rock geochemical data yield specific geochemical fingerprints for each eruption and suggest the development of different silicic magma types. Thus, these fingerprints can help to correlate eruptive products, even with scattered distal occurrences over large distances and in case of severe alteration. We compare and correlate the proximal and distal volcanoclastic beds occurring in Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Italy and Romania. Based on coeval ages and similar zircon and glass trace element compositions, the largest eruptions occurred at 18.1, 17.3, 14.9, 14.4 and 13.1 Ma, eruptions which might possibly reach VEI 7-8 size. Furthermore, the presence of several hundred meters of continuous volcaniclastic deposits of the same age indicates these rocks were sourced from caldera-forming eruptions. Volcanic ash was deposited over 1,000 km away from the eruption centers and occasionally accumulated by local redeposition in subaqueous environment, indicating the scale of Miocene volcanism was far greater than previously thought.