Identification and significance of a visible, basalt-rich Vedde Ash layer in a Late-glacial sequence on the Isle of Skye, Inner Hebrides, Scotland

This paper reports the discovery of a visible, tephra horizon of Late-glacial age from the site of Loch Ashik in the Isle of Skye, the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Although the tephra shards have a bimodal geochemical composition identical to that of the Vedde Ash (a well known marker horizon within Late-glacial sequences. The horizon at Ashik is dominated by basaltic shards and devitrified tephra shards, giving the layer its characteristic black colour. Only rhyolitic shards have previously been reported from Vedde Ash horizons in the British Isles. This new evidence raises some important questions about the factors that govern the distribution and accumulation of basaltic tephra, and about the methods used to detect ash shards in basins distal to centres of volcanic activity.