No abstract

Deposits from as many as 50 large tsunamis during the last 7000 years are preserved on the Pacific coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula near the mouth of the Zhupanova River, southern Kronotskiy Bay. These deposits are dated and correlated using Holocene marker tephra layers. The combined, preserved record of tsunami deposits and of numerous marker tephras on Kamchatka offers an unprecedented opportunity to study tsunami frequency. For example, from the stratigraphy along southern Kronotskiy Bay, we estimate frequency of large tsunamis (>5 m runup). In the last 3000 years, the minimum frequency is about one large tsunami per 100 years, and the maximum about one large tsunami per 30 years; the latter frequency occurred from about 0 to 1000 A.D. This time interval corresponds to a period of increased seismicity and volcanic activity that appears to be recorded in many places on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Abstract. Tephra layers produced by volcanic eruptions are widely used for correlation and dating of various deposits and landforms, for synchronization of disparate paleoenvironmental archives, and for reconstruction of magma origin. Here we present our original database TephraKam, which includes chemical compositions of volcanic glass in tephra and welded tuffs from the Kamchatka volcanic arc. The database contains 7049 single-shard major element analyses obtained by electron microprobe and 738 trace element analyses obtained by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry on 487 samples collected in close proximity to their volcanic sources in all volcanic zones in Kamchatka. The samples characterize about 300 explosive eruptions, which occurred in Kamchatka from the Miocene up to recent times. Precise or estimated ages for all samples are based on published 39Ar∕40Ar dates of rocks and 14C dates of host sediments, statistical age modeling and geologic relationships with dated units. All data in TephraKam are supported by information about source volcanoes and analytical details. Using the data, we present an overview of geochemical variations in Kamchatka volcanic glasses and discuss applications of these data for precise identification of tephra layers, their source volcanoes, and temporal and spatial geochemical variations in pyroclastic rocks in Kamchatka. The data files described in this paper are available on ResearchGate at https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.23627.13606 (Portnyagin et al., 2019).

Lichenometry was used to date “Little Ice Age” moraines in the Kamchatka peninsula, northeastern Russia. The Rhizocarpon geographicum growth-rate curve was based on seven data points from lava flows and moraines, dated using historical records or tephrochronology (15–300 BP). No reduction in growth rate due to decreasing lichen age was observed, so a linear approximation was used. Accuracy test results yield differences between real and calculated dates up to, but not exceeding, five years. From eight “Little Ice Age” (LIA) moraines it was established that Kamchatka glaciers advanced in the 1690s, 1850–70 and 1910–20. Only one moraine clearly corresponded to the 1690s advance. The maximum stage of the LIA was during the mid- to late 19th century when glacier fronts were generally 100–200 m lower than at present. Glacier termini with ash and moraine layers, covered by lichens and vascular plants, have been preserved for 150–300 years, judging by the lichen sizes.