南九州鬼界カルデラから噴出した広域テフラ―アカホヤ火山灰

Abstract

A Holocene volcanic ash layer comprising abundant glass shards occurs as near-surface, soil-forming parent materials in south to north Kyushu and in Shikoku. This layer has been given several local names such as “Akahoya”, “Imogo”, “Onji”, etc. by farmers and pedologists. Its remarkable characteristics as a parent material of soil stimulated the interest of many pedologists to study its source, pedological features, distribution, etc. However, opinions on its source and proper identification varied considerably from one author to another.Detailed petrographic observation and accurate determinations of the refractive indices of the glass and several phenocryst phases in the tephra, together with extensive field work, have led to the conclusion that the Akahoya ash is the product of a single major eruption of the Kikai caldera.The ash is dacitic in composition and contains abundant bubble-walled glass shards and plagioclase, hypersthene, augite and opaque minerals as phenocrysts. The refractive index of the glass ranges from 1.505 to 1.514, and that of the hypersthene, from 1.705 to 1.714. The thickness contour of the ash layer and its grain-size distribution clearly indicate that this ash represents ejecta from the Kikai caldera, which is one of the largest calderas in Japan with an approximate diameter of 20km and largely submerged beneath the sea.The formation associated with this widespread tephra consists of three members; (1) a pumice-fall deposit as the earliest stage, (2) pyroclastic-flow deposits as the middle to the latest stages, and (3) an ash-fall deposit approximately contemporaneous with the pyroclastic flow. The 3rd member is assigned to the Akahoya ash and has the most extensive lobe with an axis length of over 1, 000km, covering most of southwest to central Japan and northwest Pacific Ocean. The volumes of the Akahoya ash-fall deposits must be greater than those of the pyroclastic flows.More than twenty-seven radiocarbon dates of the ash have been obtained so far, ranging rather widely from ca. 3, 000y.B.P. to ca. 9, 000y.B.P. However, the average value of the carbonated woods and peaty materials containing in the layer and the stratigraphical relationships with human remains give a probable age of the ash between 6, 000y.B.P. and 6, 500y.B.P. This marker-tephra is thus extremely significant for studies of Holocene climatic changes and sea levels, as well as for the correlation of archaeological sites.