Units with extremely variable erodibility are typical in the succession of pyroclastic-dominated volcanic fields. Welded ignimbrites are usually resistant to erosion, thus, they often appear as positive landforms, i.e., mesas or tilted plateaus after millions of years of denudation. The Bükkalja Volcanic Area being part of the most extended foothill area of the North Hungarian Mountains, is composed predominantly of Miocene ignimbrites, where the frequency distributions of elevation a.s.l., slope, aspect, as well as topographic openness, were investigated using a 30 m resolution SRTM-based digital surface model at four sample areas located at different relative distances from the assumed source localities of the ignimbrites, showing both non-welded and welded facies. The degree of dissection was also examined along swath profiles. The topography of the sample area closest to the source localities is dominated by slabs of moderately dissected welded ignimbrites, gently dipping towards SE. Farther away from the source the topography is dominated by erosional valleys and ridges, resulting in a narrower typical elevation range, a higher proportion of pixels with greater than 5° slope, higher frequencies of NE and SW exposures, and more significant incision resulted in more frequent pixels with positive topographic openness less than 1.5 radians here. Higher thicknesses and emplacement temperatures of ignimbrites, often showing welded facies are more common closer to the source vent. Thus, the erosional pattern around calderas can be used to draw conclusions on the spatial extent of the most intense ignimbrite accumulation, i.e., the location of eruption centres even in highly eroded ignimbrite fields.
Abstract During Earth’s history, geosphere-biosphere interactions were often determined by momentary, catastrophic changes such as large explosive volcanic eruptions. The Miocene ignimbrite flare-up in the Pannonian Basin, which is located along a complex convergent plate boundary between Europe and Africa, provides a superb example of this interaction. In North Hungary, the famous Ipolytarnóc Fossil Site, often referred to as “ancient Pompeii”, records a snapshot of rich Early Miocene life buried under thick ignimbrite cover. Here, we use a multi-technique approach to constrain the successive phases of a catastrophic silicic eruption (VEI ≥ 7) dated at 17.2 Ma. An event-scale reconstruction shows that the initial PDC phase was phreatomagmatic, affecting ≥ 1500 km 2 and causing the destruction of an interfingering terrestrial–intertidal environment at Ipolytarnóc. This was followed by pumice fall, and finally the emplacement of up to 40 m-thick ignimbrite that completely buried the site. However, unlike the seemingly similar AD 79 Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii by hot pyroclastic density currents, the presence of fallen but uncharred tree trunks, branches, and intact leaves in the basal pyroclastic deposits at Ipolytarnóc as well as rock paleomagnetic properties indicate a low-temperature pyroclastic event, that superbly preserved the coastal habitat, including unique fossil tracks.
This paper presents the results from a geographic information systems (GIS) workflow, which was used to analyze the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of volcanoes in the Mio-Pleistocene monogenetic Bakony-Balaton Highland Volcanic Field (BBHVF), located in the Pannonian Basin, Hungary. Volcanism occurred during the tectonic inversion in a back-arc setting and a compressive/transpressive tectonic regime on the hottest and thinnest lithosphere of continental Europe. The main goal of this study is to clarify the effect of the pre-existing structure of the upper lithosphere in the distribution of the volcanic centers across the volcanic field using an innovative GIS methodology. Orientation of the volcanic field was compared to the orientation of the faults in the BBHVF, and in its larger vicinity, which resulted in correspondence, suggesting the dominance of the SW-NE direction. The directions of the volcanic lineaments fit well to the two main fault directions. The fault-volcano proximity analysis suggests that the fault plane of a thrust fault was an important structural feature during the lifespan of the volcanism. All results suggest that the fault plane of a regionally significant Cretaceous thrust fault (Litér Fault) might have likely served as a temporary pathway for the ascending magma, whereby (similarly to other, smaller faults) redirecting the magmas causing clustering of the volcanoes. This highlights the importance of major upper crustal structural heterogeneities for magma transport in a compressive tectonic system, especially in the case of active, monogenetic volcanic fields from a volcanic hazard perspective. The present GIS workflow can be effective in analyzing the spatial patterns of the volcanism and its connection with crustal structures at monogenetic volcanic fields worldwide.
Nineteen Middle Miocene (Badenian and Sarmatian) microvertebrate faunas were collected by the first author in quantities of several tons of samples in the Northern Hungary region and from the Visegrád Mountains in Transdanubia over the last two decades. Sample materials were washed and sieved using the sieve system of Daams & Freudenthal (1988). The study of these new faunas resulted in numerous taxonomic, paleobiogeographic and biochronologic conclusions (Hír 2020, Hír et al. 2016, 2017 and references therein), as well as lithostratigraphic and geochronologic results. The main purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the latter relationships.
Flow-related fabric of a subaqueously emplaced laharic deposit (Ram Hill Pumiceous Sandstone) were investigated around the middle Miocene Keserűs Hill lava dome group (northern Hungary). A twofold methodology, consisting of image analyis on rock surfaces and low-field anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS), was used to determine large-scale flow paths and emplacement processes. In addition, comparative measurements of magnetic anisotropy were performed by using an MFK1-FA multifunction kappabridge with 3D rotator (Studynka et al. 2014) at Agico, Inc. (Brno, Czech Republic). The results indicate a very good agreement between the azimuths of a-axis of the most elongated clasts from image analysis and the orientation of K1 susceptibilities from the measurements of the two laboratories. This agreement of fabric direction obtained by the two different methods allows to draw the following implications: 1) Fabric direction-derived large-scale flow paths show a near-radial pattern around the proposed eruption centre (Karatson et al. 2007) of the Keserűs Hill lava dome group (Fig. 1). Thus, our new data on paleoflow directions quantitatively confirm the former, one central vent-dominated volcano-structural reconstruction which was proposed on the basis of facies analysis. 2) Aggradation from multiple lahar pulses is presumable due to the vertical variation of shear direction within the exposures.
Obsidian is one of the classical subjects of archaeometrical analyses. Most analytical methods however will require destruction or preparation of the sample equal to destruction. Therefore most of the choice pieces are not to be analysed by these methods. PGAA is suitable for analysing the pieces without destruction and without any residual radioactivity. The pieces were placed into the analytical equipment without any special preparation, intact and naturally, without any destruction or sampling. 2?2 cm of the sample surface was irradiated by a cold neutron beam of 5?10 cms flux. Since neutrons penetrate the whole sample, the information we get reflects the bulk composition of the material, which is very advantageous for the glassy, homogeneous volcanic glass (obsidian).
Abstract Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) is a frequently applied method in sedimentology, especially in the determination of the orientation of transport processes. We present an analysis of magnetic fabric (MF) studies on loess. New aspects of fabric development reveal: i) The deposition of the aeolian sediments was controlled by gravity, low-energy transport and local geomorphology, hence no clarified wind direction can be defined. ii) The influence of phyllosilicates is also significant among the magnetic components. iii) While the primary MF is relatively well-defined, the secondary MF is influenced by several processes. The analysis of stereoplots combined with the q—β diagram and photostatistics showed encouraging results during the characterization of various secondary MF such as redeposited MF and pedogenic fabric. iv) Changes in processes from aeolian to water-lain deposition and the increasing transportation energy were reflected by the connection between AMS and observed micro-scale sedimentary features. v) A relationship was obvious between the degree of pedogenesis and the transformation of sedimentary MF into a vertical MF typical for paleosols. vi) The significant role of very fine grained magnetite on the formation of inverse MF could not be excluded.
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