Abstract
The late Pleistocene to Holocene subaerial pyroclastic deposits of the Quill stratovolcano on the Caribbean island of St Eustatius form seven stratigraphic divisions. New radiocarbon ages of charcoal are presented for the second, third and seventh divisions in order to better constrain the Quill's eruption history. Three samples from the same layer of Division 2 at two localities on the northeast coast yield ages of 18,020 ± 40 (1σ), 18,310 ± 45 and 18,490 ± 45 14C yr BP (∼19,800-20,600 yr cal BC). These are considerably younger (∼4400 yr) than a previously published result for this division. A single sample of Division 3 gave an age of 8090 14C yr BP (∼7100 yr cal BC) and overlaps with previously published 14C ages for this division. A charred root in the pyroclastic unit deposited by the last eruption of the Quill (Division 7) gave an age of 919 14C yr BP (∼1100-1200 yr cal AD). This result is ∼600 years younger than a previously published age, and its origin is attributed to human activity. The timing of the last eruption of the Quill therefore remains poorly constrained but is older than 600 AD. Terrestrial gastropods found in paleosols and organic material found in small streams that developed in Division 3 indicate that Division 4 must be younger than 6100 ± 500 yr cal BC. The oxygen and carbon isotope composition of the terrestrial gastropods derived from Division 3 paleosols indicates that the C4 and CAM-type vegetation was dominant and that the climate subsequently changed to wetter conditions. The minimum eruption frequency for the Quill volcano is one eruption every ∼1400 years during the past 22,000 years. This eruption frequency of the Quill volcano is of the same order of magnitude as other recent northern Lesser Antilles volcanoes, Soufrière Hills (Montserrat, ∼5000 years) and Mt Liamuiga (St. Kitts, ∼2500 years).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e4 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Geologie en Mijnbouw/Netherlands Journal of Geosciences |
| Volume | 103 |
| Early online date | 28 Feb 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Netherlands Journal of Geosciences Foundation.
Funding
Ayala Juliana and Ruth Strootman assisted with the collection of the charcoal samples and description of the stratigraphic columns. We would like to thank Dr S. Palstra and Dr L de Jong (CIO, Groningen) for providing the 1986 data and assisting with the preparation of radiocarbon analyses. Hessel Woolderink explained how to clean and prepare the charcoal samples. PZV would like to thank Dr Nathalie van der Putten and Dr Kay Beets with the help of the interpretation of the C age results and dead carbon effects. This project was financially supported by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (1980\u2019s fieldwork and radiocarbon analyses), TNO and Molengraaff fund. This research received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union\u2019s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement n\u00B0 319209 (ERC-Synergy NEXUS 1492). We would like to thank Prof. Alan Smith and 3 anonymous reviewers for constructive criticism that significantly improved previous versions of this paper. 14 Ayala Juliana and Ruth Strootman assisted with the collection of the charcoal samples and description of the stratigraphic columns. We would like to thank Dr S. Palstra and Dr L de Jong (CIO, Groningen) for providing the 1986 data and assisting with the preparation of radiocarbon analyses. Hessel Woolderink explained how to clean and prepare the charcoal samples. PZV would like to thank Dr Nathalie van der Putten and Dr Kay Beets with the help of the interpretation of the 14C age results and dead carbon effects. This project was financially supported by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (1980s fieldwork and radiocarbon analyses), TNO and Molengraaff fund. This research received funding from the European Research Council under the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement no 319209 (ERC-Synergy NEXUS 1492). We would like to thank Prof. Alan Smith and 3 anonymous reviewers for constructive criticism that significantly improved previous versions of this paper.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| European Commission | |
| European Research Council | |
| Seventh Framework Programme | ERC-Synergy NEXUS 1492, 319209 |
Keywords
- eruption frequency
- pyroclastic deposits
- Quill volcano
- radiocarbon dates
- St. Eustatius
- volcanic hazard