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A late Pleistocene-Holocene record of explosive eruptions from central Sumatra (Indonesia) in the western Sunda Volcanic Arc

Marcus Phua1,3, Francesca Forni2,3, Steffen Eisele3, Caroline Bouvet de Maisonneuve3, Wei-Ran Li1, Hamdi Rifai4, Mahyar Mohtadi5, Andreas Lückge6

  • Affiliations: 1VRock Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; 2Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra "Ardito Desio", Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy; 3Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; 4Departemen Fisika, Universitas Negeri Padang, Kota Padang, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia; 5MARUM -- Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany; 6Federal Institute for Geoscience and Natural Resources (BGR), Hannover, Germany 

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Friday 16:30 - 18:00, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 143

  • Programme No: 3.4.24

  • Theme 3 > Session 4

Abstract

Explosive eruptions in Sumatra, Indonesia with VEI 3-5 have received inadequate attention due to their limited preservation in the proximal record. This knowledge gap hinders existing attempts to conduct hazard assessments for these potentially impactful eruptions. Here, we address this disparity by presenting geochemical, geochronological and tephrochronological datasets associated with tephra sampled from deep-sea cores collected off the western Sumatran coast, as well as pyroclastic deposits throughout central Sumatra. Our datasets reveal correlations between seven tephra layers and their proximal sources and provide new constraints on the eruption ages, volumes and sizes. Notably, we identified three VEI 5 eruptions, including the ~1.53 ka Lubuk King Tephra eruption from Malintang (≥1.4 km3 DRE of magma), which represents the youngest known VEI 5 eruption in Sumatra and the two temporally proximate (~580 yr apart) Tandikat II and I Tephra eruptions (≥1.1 and ≥2.7 km3 DRE of magma) at Tandikat around ~4.36 and ~4.94 ka, respectively. We ascertained that at least two VEI 4 eruptions occurring within the last 36 kyr are correlated to the currently active Marapi. We also traced two tephra layers (AB4 and AB5; ~36.8 and ~41.0 ka) to VEI ≥ 5 eruptions at two eruptive centres in neighbouring provinces (Ranau Tuff from South Sumatra and Djudjun Tephra from Jambi). Source provenances for another six tephra layers remain unknown due to the lack of proximal correlatives. This study provides an improved tephrochronological framework for late Pleistocene-Holocene explosive volcanism in Sumatra that will help improve volcanic hazards assessments for the region.