Glass geochemical compositions from widespread tephras erupted over the last 200 years from Mount St. Helens

Abstract

ABSTRACTBuilding reliable chronologies from lake sediments, peat and other paleoenvironmental archives can be challenging, especially for historical times where radiocarbon is unreliable. Nineteenth‐ and 20th‐century eruptions from Mount St. Helens (MSH) provide important chronostratigraphic markers for regional paleoenvironmental studies within this time frame, but are constrained by poorly geochemically characterized tephra and/or limited published data. Here, we present glass geochemistry from the most significant eruptions from this time. This includes proximal, medial and distal deposits of the 18 May 1980 MSH eruption, layer T ( ad 1799/1800), a new tephra that we argue represents the ad 1842 eruption, and the 22 July 1980 eruption that had reported ashfall in Canada. Our results indicate that most tephras ejected during these eruptions, within a time frame of ~200 years, have distinct glass geochemical characteristics that can be used to identify distal deposits for tephrochronological studies. Layer T is on trend with analyses of the 1980 eruption but has a distinct dacitic glass population. The 1980 and ad 1842 eruptions are similar, both having rhyolitic glass compositions, but the ad 1842 event can be differentiated by a more constrained SiO2 range in the main geochemical population, and the presence of a unique SiO2 sub‐population.