The age of the Tseax volcanic eruption, British Columbia, Canada


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Authors: Williams-Jones, G; Barendregt, RW; Russell, JK; Le Moigne, Y; Enkin, RJ; Gallo R
Year: 2020
Journal: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences    PDF    Article Link (DOI)
Title: The age of the Tseax volcanic eruption, British Columbia, Canada
Abstract: A recent volcanic eruption occurred at Tseax volcano that formed a series of tephra cones in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The explosive to effusive eruption also formed a 32 km sequence of Fe-rich Mg-poor basanite–trachybasalt lavas covering 40 km2. Oral stories of the Nisg_a’a Nation report that the eruption may have caused as many as 2000 fatalities. The actual eruption date and question of whether there was one or multiple eruptive episodes in the 14th and 18th centuries are, as of yet, unresolved. New radiocarbon dating of wood charcoal from immediately beneath vent-proximal tephra deposits and complementary age information suggest an eruption in 1675–1778 CE (95.4% probability) was responsible for the formation of the tephra cone. New paleomagnetic and geochemical data from the tephra cone and lava flows suggest there is, in fact, no statistically significant difference in time between the explosive and effusive deposits and that they formed during a single eruptive episode.
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