Volcanic eruption eye-witnessed and recorded by prehistoric humans
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Date
2019
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Abstract
Human footprints in hydrovolcanic ash near Çakallar volcano (Kula, Western Turkey) were discovered in 1968. A nearby pictograph interpreted as depicting Çakallar volcano would define it as the oldest site where humans demonstrably eye-witnessed a volca̶nic eruption and possibly artistically recorded it. Despite Çakallar's volcanological and cultural importance, its eruption age has remained controversial. Here, two independent dating methods, cosmogenic 36Cl and combined U-Pb and (U-Th)/He zircon (ZDD) geochronology, yielded the first internally consistent eruption ages controlled by detailed volcanostratigraphic mapping. Concordant 36Cl ages of 4.7 ± 0.6 ka (errors 1σ) were obtained for a cone-breaching lava flow. ZDD ages for crustal xenoliths from scoria deposits directly overlying the footprints yielded an age of 4.7 ± 0.7 ka. This firmly places the Çakallar eruption and prehistoric human footprints, and plausibly the rock art, into the Bronze Age, reinforcing the notion that prehistoric artwork recorded natural events. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd
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Anatolia , Kula , Manisa , Turkey , Binary alloys , Geochronology , Lead alloys , Silicate minerals , Thorium alloys , Zircon , Anatolia , Human footprints , Petrographs , Salihli , UNESCO global geopark , Western Turkey , chronostratigraphy , geochronology , petrography , prehistoric , rock art , UNESCO , volcanic eruption , zircon , Volcanoes