Beschreibung
The eastern Mediterranean is highly sensitive to abrupt climatic changes due to its location at the intersection of major atmospheric systems. The ICDP core from lake Van's Ahlat Ridge core (AR, 5034-2) is the longest continuous paleo-environmental record in this, providing valuable insights into the climatic drivers and environmental response. However, chronological uncertainties challenge our full understanding into potential regional climatic (a)synchronies.
Both visible tephra layers of volcanic ash and non-visible cryptotephra are a powerful chronological tool. By geochemically characterising volcanic sources and eruptions, tephra correlations provide synchronous time markers (isochrons) that precisely link and date records across regions. Additionally, precisely and directly dated ages of these eruption events by 40Ar/39Ar dating can be transferred by these isochrons. The Nemrut and Süphan volcanoes of the Eastern Anatolian Volcanic Province (EAVP) dominate tephra layers found in numerous palaeoclimatic and archaeological records of the eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia. The aim of TephroBridge is to establish a comprehensive EAVP tephrostratigraphy. TephroBridge-I geochemically characterised tephra layers (V-layers) from Lake Van's Ahlat Ridge core (AR, 5034-2), providing major and trace elements using EPMA and LA-ICP-MS. TephroBridge-II will complete this by geochemically analysis direct dated (40Ar/39Ar) tephra outcrops around Lake Van and correlating them to AR V-layers (TephroBridge-I). This will enable secure links between outcrop ages to the AR core, strengthening the core’s chronological framework. TephroBridge-II will finalise a comprehensive tephrostratigraphic framework for the EAVP covering the last 130 kyr BP. This will enable robust synchronisation of regional records (i.e. Dead Sea ICDP 5017-1 record) and improving understanding of past climatic responses in the eastern Mediterranean.