Hidden volcanic glass in Australian wetlands may be from a NZ supereruption

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-08-16 10:54

Australia; New Zealand

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Tiny volcanic glass shards, or cryptotephra, found in Tasmanian wetland sediments could have originated from a supereruption in Aotearoa over 25,000 years ago - the first time such glass has been identified in Australia. Researchers found the silica-rich volcanic glass about 2.5 m deep in peat and river sediment from the Yellow Marsh, and analysed its chemistry. They estimated its age using radiocarbon dating of plant spores in the sediments above it, and compared its chemistry to the chemical 'signature' of glass shards from other eruptions. The eruption it best matched was the Ōruanui supereruption, 25,600 thousand years ago at the site of the present-day Lake Taupō, agreeing with a previous model showing Ōruanui ash may have reached Australia.

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Research Elsevier, Web page

Journal/
conference: Quaternary Science Reviews

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Victoria University of Wellington, The University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Forest Practices Authority, Hobart

Funder: This work was supported by the Board of the Forest Practices Authority (Tasmania) and by JLH Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi Marsden Fast Start grant (grant no. MFP-VUW1809).

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