Stratigraphy, age and correlation of two widespread Late Holocene tephras preserved within Lake Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea

Two widespread Late Holocene tephras, Tibito and Olgaboli, have been identified within sediment cores from Lake Kutubu, the largest upland lake in Papua New Guinea. This discovery extends their known distributions further southwest into the southern Highlands region, affirming their significance as inter-regional stratigraphic markers for late Holocene palaeoenvironmental, archaeological, and volcanic hazard studies. The study employed a combination of core stratigraphy, sediment properties, and geochemical characterization (electron microprobe and laser ablation inductively coupled-plasma mass spectrometry) to correlate these tephras with previously described distal localities. Glass shard compositional data strongly support Long Island as the eruptive source for Tibito tephra, while Olgaboli tephra's source is less certain but likely originates from Karkar Island.

Schneider, L., Alloway, B. V., Blong, R. J., Hope, G. S., Fallon, S. J., Pain, C. F., Maher, W. A., & Haberle, S. G. (2017). Stratigraphy, age and correlation of two widespread Late Holocene tephras preserved within Lake Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. Journal of Quaternary Science, 32(6), 782–794. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.2959