Identification of pumice derived from historic eruption in the same volcano; Case study for the Sakurajima-Bunmei tephra in the Miyazaki Plain

Ikuta, Masafumi*; Niwa, Masakazu   ; Danhara, Toru*; Yamashita, Toru*; Maruyama, Seiji*; Kamataki, Takanobu*; Kobayashi, Tetsuo*; Kurosawa, Hideki*; Kokubu, Yoko   ; Hirata, Takafumi*

We carried out mineral composition analysis, morphological classification of volcanic glass shards and refractive index measurements of the glass shards and orthopyroxene from the eruption products from Sakurajima volcano. In this study, refractive indexes of hydrated and non-hydrated parts within each individual glass shard were measured separately. This measurements in consideration of hydration in glass shards made possible distinct discrimination of the pumice samples from the three eruption events of Bunmei, An-ei, and Taisho. Pumice layers in the core samples obtained from the southern part of the Miyazaki Plain were also identified as the Sakurajima-Bunmei tephra by the above mentioned analyses, and also by the data of radiocarbon dating for coaly materials included in the pumice layers. Occurrences of the pumice layers suggest that the Sakurajima-Bunmei tephra could have reached the southern part of Miyazaki Plain as pumice falls.