From the ashes: a 150th anniversary review of the Askja-1875 tephra

Simon Larsson

doi:10.58051/ns01-jf70

Dynamica - SUstainable Publishing

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From the ashes: a 150th anniversary review of the Askja-1875 tephra

Reviews

Version 2

David Lowe

General comment:

Looks great - well done

Alice Carter-Champion

General comment:

A nice summary of the eruptive episode and discovery of the Askja volcano and 1875 eruption. The article is well written and engaging, but would be improved with a figure detailing the context in which Askja sits, at the very least. The PCA is well produced, but some of the symbols/colours are pretty similar and so hard to distinguish without guidance in text. Finally I think you need to double check the writing around the high/low Na2O values for the Davies (2007) data - you say that the Na2O is high at one point but then low on the TAS plot. Apart from those minor comments, I would like to approve the manuscript for publication.

Version 1

Alice Carter-Champion

General comment:

This is a succinct and interesting contribution to both the history of tephrochronology (centred around Askja) and towards a more statistical approach to examining geochemical data from distal tephra layers. It was really enjoyable to read and clear that a rigorous investigation of the historical records has occurred, blending history with science! Discussion of the 1875 eruption and discovery and subsequent mapping of the volcanic system is concise and provides excellent context for the later overview and discussion of the geochemical characteristics of the Askja 1875 eruption. There are a few minor suggestions that I include, but these are optional or very minor expression suggestions.

Sections comments:

Where there’s smoke: discovering a volcano

Alice Carter-Champion: The scene setting is really great, but it would be helpful to also have a map of Iceland, to help contextualise some of the places that you mention - either a reproduction of one of the historical maps that I'm sure exist, or a modern one!

irst mapping of the crater-depression and the plain of Askja by Lieutenant Caroc of the Danish Navy

Alice Carter-Champion: Again, this sounds very interesting, is there any chance to reproduce/photograph this and include it?

which in

Alice Carter-Champion: which began in?

separate plumbing systems

Alice Carter-Champion: three separate plumbing systems you mean? Askja, northern lava flow, southern lava flow? Or two plumbing systems, one for the explosive stuff and one for the effusive lava flows?

produce a map of the ashfall

Alice Carter-Champion: Again, would be really nice to include a reproduction of this if it's possible!

Figure 3:

Alice Carter-Champion: It would be nice to include the proximal data from Askja-1875 from Meara, R.H., Thordarson, T.H., Pearce, N.J.G., Hayward, C. and Larsen, G., 2020. A catalogue of major and trace element data for Icelandic Holocene silicic tephra layers. Journal of Quaternary Science, 35(1-2), pp.122-142.

David Lowe

General comment:

This is an excellent paper, very well written and presented, and of interest to a wide percentage of tephrochronologists and geoscience historians. The paper should be published almost "as is" but I have suggested minor changes to the text to clarify or reduce ambiguity. These should be considered as 'changes by the author' but very minor overall.

Sections comments:

David Lowe: Excellent topic and abstract

1830’s,

David Lowe: 1. Remove appostrophe 1830s 2. 'widened to a caldera' - is this a true caldera which is a major collapse feature (that arises because of large volume of ejecta, unlike a crater). Please check and reword to 'large crater' if appropriate.