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The Age of Glacier Peak Tephra in West-Central Montana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Peter J. Mehringer Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Geology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164
John C. Sheppard
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164
Franklin F. Foit Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164

Abstract

At Sheep Mountain Bog, near Missoula, Montana, a late-glacial tephra, that probably fell in late summer, is preserved as an 8-mm-thick graded bed overlain by another 8 mm of redeposited ash mixed with lake deposits. Sediment surrounding the ash was 14C dated to about 11,200 yr B.P. Electron-microprobe analyses of the volcanic glass and hornblende phenocrysts from this ash layer indicate that they are similar in major-element chemistry to those of Glacier Peak layer G previously considered to be about 12,000 yr old or older.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

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