All Toba tephra occurrences across peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr BP eruption

John A. Westgate; Philip A. R. Shane; N. J. G. Pearce; William T. Perkins; Ravi Korisettar; Criag A. Chesner; Martin A. J. Williams; Subhrangsu K. Acharyya

doi:10.1006/qres.1998.1974

All Toba tephra occurrences across peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr BP eruption

John A. Westgate, Philip A. R. Shane, N. J. G. Pearce, William T. Perkins, Ravi Korisettar, Criag A. Chesner, Martin A. J. Williams, Subhrangsu K. Acharyya

Department of Geography and Earth Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

157 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A controversy currently exists regarding the number of Toba eruptive events represented in the tephra occurrences across peninsular India. Some claim the presence of a single bed, the 75,000-yr-old Toba tephra; others argue that dating and archaeological evidence suggest the presence of earlier Toba tephra, Resolution of this issue was sought through detailed geochemical analyses of a comprehensive suite of samples, allowing comparison of the Indian samples to those from the Toba caldera in northern Sumatra, Malaysia, and, importantly, the sedimentary core at ODP Site 758 in the Indian Ocean-a core that contains several of the earlier Toba tephra beds. In addition, two samples of Toba tephra from western India were dated by the fission-track method. The results unequivocally demonstrate that all the presently known Toba tephra occurrences in peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr B.P. Toba eruption. Hence, this tephra bed can be used as an effective tool in the correlation and dating of late Quaternary sedimentary sequences across India and it can no longer be used in support of a middle Pleistocene age fbr associated Acheulian artifacts. (C) 1998 University of Washington.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	107-112
Number of pages	6
Journal	Quaternary Research
Volume	50
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.1998.1974
Publication status	Published - Jul 1998

Keywords

Toba tephra
volcanic glass
major and trace elements
fission-track age
Acheulian artifacts
India
LATE PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM
GLASS SHARDS
AGES
ASH
SUBCONTINENT
CALIBRATION
SEDIMENTS
HISTORY
ROCKS
BEDS

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@article{90ea926c4fcc4ffbbcbb4f47ad9faab8,

title = "All Toba tephra occurrences across peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr BP eruption",

abstract = "A controversy currently exists regarding the number of Toba eruptive events represented in the tephra occurrences across peninsular India. Some claim the presence of a single bed, the 75,000-yr-old Toba tephra; others argue that dating and archaeological evidence suggest the presence of earlier Toba tephra, Resolution of this issue was sought through detailed geochemical analyses of a comprehensive suite of samples, allowing comparison of the Indian samples to those from the Toba caldera in northern Sumatra, Malaysia, and, importantly, the sedimentary core at ODP Site 758 in the Indian Ocean-a core that contains several of the earlier Toba tephra beds. In addition, two samples of Toba tephra from western India were dated by the fission-track method. The results unequivocally demonstrate that all the presently known Toba tephra occurrences in peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr B.P. Toba eruption. Hence, this tephra bed can be used as an effective tool in the correlation and dating of late Quaternary sedimentary sequences across India and it can no longer be used in support of a middle Pleistocene age fbr associated Acheulian artifacts. (C) 1998 University of Washington.",

keywords = "Toba tephra, volcanic glass, major and trace elements, fission-track age, Acheulian artifacts, India, LATE PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM, GLASS SHARDS, AGES, ASH, SUBCONTINENT, CALIBRATION, SEDIMENTS, HISTORY, ROCKS, BEDS",

author = "Westgate, {John A.} and Shane, {Philip A. R.} and Pearce, {N. J. G.} and Perkins, {William T.} and Ravi Korisettar and Chesner, {Criag A.} and Williams, {Martin A. J.} and Acharyya, {Subhrangsu K.}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank C. M. Hall and J. W. Farrell for tephra samples from ODP Site 758, C. Cermigniani for support on the microprobe aspect of this study, and L. Hill for conducting the sample dissolution for the ICP-MS analyses. James Hester and Bhaskar Deotare helped CAC and RK, respectively. Reviews by Stephen Self and William Rose are gratefully acknowledged. This work was funded by an NSERC operating grant to JAW.",

year = "1998",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1006/qres.1998.1974",

language = "English",

volume = "50",

pages = "107--112",

journal = "Quaternary Research",

issn = "0033-5894",

publisher = "Elsevier",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - All Toba tephra occurrences across peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr BP eruption

AU - Westgate, John A.

AU - Shane, Philip A. R.

AU - Pearce, N. J. G.

AU - Perkins, William T.

AU - Korisettar, Ravi

AU - Chesner, Criag A.

AU - Williams, Martin A. J.

AU - Acharyya, Subhrangsu K.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank C. M. Hall and J. W. Farrell for tephra samples from ODP Site 758, C. Cermigniani for support on the microprobe aspect of this study, and L. Hill for conducting the sample dissolution for the ICP-MS analyses. James Hester and Bhaskar Deotare helped CAC and RK, respectively. Reviews by Stephen Self and William Rose are gratefully acknowledged. This work was funded by an NSERC operating grant to JAW.

PY - 1998/7

Y1 - 1998/7

N2 - A controversy currently exists regarding the number of Toba eruptive events represented in the tephra occurrences across peninsular India. Some claim the presence of a single bed, the 75,000-yr-old Toba tephra; others argue that dating and archaeological evidence suggest the presence of earlier Toba tephra, Resolution of this issue was sought through detailed geochemical analyses of a comprehensive suite of samples, allowing comparison of the Indian samples to those from the Toba caldera in northern Sumatra, Malaysia, and, importantly, the sedimentary core at ODP Site 758 in the Indian Ocean-a core that contains several of the earlier Toba tephra beds. In addition, two samples of Toba tephra from western India were dated by the fission-track method. The results unequivocally demonstrate that all the presently known Toba tephra occurrences in peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr B.P. Toba eruption. Hence, this tephra bed can be used as an effective tool in the correlation and dating of late Quaternary sedimentary sequences across India and it can no longer be used in support of a middle Pleistocene age fbr associated Acheulian artifacts. (C) 1998 University of Washington.

AB - A controversy currently exists regarding the number of Toba eruptive events represented in the tephra occurrences across peninsular India. Some claim the presence of a single bed, the 75,000-yr-old Toba tephra; others argue that dating and archaeological evidence suggest the presence of earlier Toba tephra, Resolution of this issue was sought through detailed geochemical analyses of a comprehensive suite of samples, allowing comparison of the Indian samples to those from the Toba caldera in northern Sumatra, Malaysia, and, importantly, the sedimentary core at ODP Site 758 in the Indian Ocean-a core that contains several of the earlier Toba tephra beds. In addition, two samples of Toba tephra from western India were dated by the fission-track method. The results unequivocally demonstrate that all the presently known Toba tephra occurrences in peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr B.P. Toba eruption. Hence, this tephra bed can be used as an effective tool in the correlation and dating of late Quaternary sedimentary sequences across India and it can no longer be used in support of a middle Pleistocene age fbr associated Acheulian artifacts. (C) 1998 University of Washington.

KW - Toba tephra

KW - volcanic glass

KW - major and trace elements

KW - fission-track age

KW - Acheulian artifacts

KW - India

KW - LATE PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM

KW - GLASS SHARDS

KW - AGES

KW - ASH

KW - SUBCONTINENT

KW - CALIBRATION

KW - SEDIMENTS

KW - HISTORY

KW - ROCKS

KW - BEDS

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032446365&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1006/qres.1998.1974

DO - 10.1006/qres.1998.1974

M3 - Article

SN - 0033-5894

VL - 50

SP - 107

EP - 112

JO - Quaternary Research

JF - Quaternary Research

IS - 1

ER -

All Toba tephra occurrences across peninsular India belong to the 75,000 yr BP eruption

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Keywords

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