Characterising the proximal pyroclastic deposits in Central Anatolia to improve the recent explosive volcanic history, synchronise sedimentary records, and better assess volcanic hazards in Turkey

Project Information

PUSKURUM

Grant agreement ID: 101024337

DOI

10.3030/101024337

Project closed

EC signature date 6 April 2021

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 30 August 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 183 473,28

EU contribution

€ 183 473,28

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PUSKURUM (Characterising the proximal pyroclastic deposits in Central Anatolia to improve the recent explosive volcanic history, synchronise sedimentary records, and better assess volcanic hazards in Turkey)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The PÜSKÜRÜM project was proposed to fill the existent gap on the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe tephrostratigraphic framework. Before this Marie Curie action, it was a considerable lack of information about the recent explosive volcanism of the Central Anatolian Volcanic Province (CAVP). The characterisation of proximal pyroclastic deposits erupted by the active Hasandağ, Acigöl and Erciyes volcanoes, has addressed largely this issue, and has contributed to the state-of-the-art with several geochemical and geochronological datasets, as well as geological maps, volcano-stratigraphy logs, and physical parameters quantifications of the studied explosive eruptions.
The main results of the PÜSKÜRÜM project so far are being published in 4 research articles, including 1) the identification of a new collapse caldera within the Hasandağ complex (i.e. the Ulukisla caldera); 2) the identification for the first time of a Plinian eruption produced by Hasandağ (i.e. the Belbashani Pumice eruption; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-024-01752-6); 3) the triggering mechanisms of Acigöl caldera-forming eruptions (i.e. the origin of the last two Cappadocian ignimbrites); and 4) the reconstruction of the Holocene explosive volcanic eruptions of the Erciyes, which has 1M of people living atop the related pyroclastic deposits (Kayseri city). These contributions are essential to improve the volcanic hazards assessment in Central Anatolia, and to better evaluate the regional risks and potential impacts of a future eruption.
Another important objective of the PÜSKÜRÜM project was to make possible the correlations of tephra layers (i.e. volcanic ash) from unknown source found in distal records (e.g. Mediterranean and Dead sea, paleolakes in Arabia, caves in Egypt, lakes in Romania, etc.). Today, and thanks to the new CAVP geochemical datasets, it is possible to know the source of that volcanic ashes registered in paleoenvironmental archives and archaeological sites along the region. One example of these are the tephras found in a Black Sea-Core (~25 ash layers), which most of them have been correlated by chemical fingerprint (major and trace elements composition) to Erciyes, some to Acigöl and others to Hasandağ volcanoes. These tephrochronological correlations are important for a better quantification of large explosive eruptions (hazard related objectives), but also to synchronise sedimentary records (paleoclimatic objectives).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first year of the PÜSKÜRÜM project, Dr. Iván Sunyé Puchol (Principal Investigator, PI), Rengin Özsoy (the PhD student of the project) and Dr. Efe Akkas (tukish collaborator) did a fieldwork campaign in the Central Anatolian Volcanic Province (CAVP, the study area). The team mapped and logged the tephrostratigraphy of the proximal deposits of the Hasandağ, Acigöl, and Erciyes volcanoes, while collecting pyroclastic samples for posterior lab analysis, including geochronology (Ar/Ar and U-Th-Pb methods for eruption ages) and glass geochemical analysis (major and trace elements measurements by EMP and LA-ICP-MS). The project was presented at the 1st MedGU Conference in Istanbul. Dr. Sunyé has disseminate the PUSKURUM project in Sapienza seminars and CIVIS infodays.
From the second year the PI has worked as part-time (50%) for family reasons (parenting), so the total duration of his MSCA contract was 3 years. A new fieldwork was focused on completing the mapping and sampling of CAVP proximal deposits. A new master’s student, Simge Kaya, joined the team to study the petrology of Erciyes. Additionally, Dr. Xavier Bolós, an expert in volcanic hazards, collaborated to collect eruption source parameters. Samples for radiocarbon dating (C14) were recollected as part of the geochronological work. During this period, Dr. Sunyé Puchol presented preliminary results at seminars in international institutions (e.g. Barcelona, Marseille and Ankara), and participated in outreach events like Earth Day Italy and the monthly Green World radio program, as well as organised a workshop about Anatolian volcanism during the INAQUA 2023 in Rome, where the PUSKURUM students has disseminated the project results. The PUSKURUM students also presented the project at the 75th Geological Congress of Turkey and at the EXCITE Conference 2023 (Granada, Spain). My teaching activities included lectures on volcanology and geothermal energy at Sapienza University, as well as co-organizing a CIVIS course on geochronology at CEREGE.
In the third year the team presented their latest results at major international conferences, including The Geoscience Paradigm in Potenza (Italy), and at the European Geoscience Union (EGU) General Assembly (Vienna, Austria), where findings from Hasandağ and Acigöl were discussed in an special session organised by Dr. Ivan Sunyé (https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU24/session/50185). Laboratory work continued, with additional sample analyses in Glasgow and Zurich. The first research paper from the PÜSKÜRÜM project was published in the Bulletin of Volcanology, with two more papers submitted to Geology and the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. Media engagements included interviews with Catalan TV and EOS newspaper, and the European Researchers’ Night of Rome 2024 for further disseminating project findings. During this last year of the Marie-Curie, the PI won an extra 12-months fellow from Sapienza to keep working on the PUSKURUM project.
In the fourth year, Dr. Sunyé Puchol will expand on tephrochronological correlations using tephra from Black Sea cores, collaborating with the Oxford Tephrochronology group.The project aims to extend its impact through seminars and presentations at upcoming international meetings (4rd MedGU in Barcelona, and IAVCEI 2025 in Geneve), while also securing future funding and a tenure track position at Sapienza University through the development of a follow-up project, the ÇoraDrill.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The new tephrostratigraphic datasets (including volcanic glass chemistry and eruption ages) contributed by the PÜSKÜRÜM project has increased considerably the previous volcanic knowledge of the CAVP. We have reconstruct in detail the recent volcanic histories of Hasandağ, Acigöl and Erciyes, quantifying the magnitude of their past eruptions, the recurrence and the eruptive styles, which is an essential information for a more accurate risk assessment of the Cappadocian region.
At the moment, one of the main impact on the society by the PÜSKÜRÜM project is that the Turkish governmental institutions (e.g. MTA, the geological survey of Turkey, and AFAD, the ministry for disaster and emergency management) installed monitoring instruments on the active and dangerous Erciyes volcano. This reaction is in part due to the impact of the Workshop that PÜSKÜRÜM team has organised during the INQUA-2023 conference, and the session at the EGU-2024 (Vienna, Austria) about the Anatolian volcanism and related hazards.
More expected results is the database that PÜSKÜRÜM team is building, which will work with a machine learning model able to correlate automatically regional tephra layers (e.g. recorded in paleoenvironmental and archaeological sites) to Central Anatolian volcanic sources. Further projects are being prospected to follow up the researches started with PÜSKÜRÜM (e.g. BlaCoreTephra and ÇoraDrill), which will enlarge the state-of-the-art about Anatolian volcanism and paleoclimatology.

PUSKURUM study area

INQUA conference