Cambridge Tephra Lab

Session abstract: Tephrochronology is one of the most effective tools for building precise and independent chronological frameworks that link archaeological, palaeoenvironmental, and geological archives. By relating tephra layers to eruptive events, it establishes isochrons – time-synchronous surfaces that enable stratigraphic sequences to be correlated across regions with exceptional precision. In recent years, the study of cryptotephra – fine-grained (<125 μm) volcanic glass shards preserved in sediments far from their source – has profoundly expanded the potential of this approach. The identification and geochemical fingerprinting of these invisible ash layers now allow long-distance correlations, extending the applicability of tephrochronology to regions and contexts once considered beyond its reach. This session focuses on how the integration of tephra studies into archaeological research is transforming our ability to correlate, date, and interpret the complex relationships between human activity, archaeological cultures, landscape evolution, and volcanic events across space and time. By bringing together examples from different regions and periods—from prehistoric to historical contexts—the session will highlight the diversity of applications and the growing analytical precision that characterise this rapidly evolving field. We welcome contributions demonstrating how both visible tephra and cryptotephra layers have been used to refine archaeological chronologies, synchronise cultural and environmental sequences, or strengthen the chronological control of multiproxy datasets. Methodological and case-study papers are equally encouraged, especially those integrating tephrochronology with geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental methods such as micromorphology, sedimentology, and palaeoecological analyses. Research from regions traditionally considered “tephra-poor”, where cryptotephra discoveries are revealing new temporal anchors, is particularly welcome.

📣 Studying tephra in archaeology?
Then submit an abstract to our #tephratastic session at the European Association for Archaeologists #EAAs in Athens this summer. 🌋🏛️ Session #203 “Advances in Tephrochronology for Archaeological Research”.
👉5th Feb deadline👈
More info: bit.ly/3LCcuyy

A screenshot of the title of a PhD project: “New insights into the timing and scale of past Mediterranean volcanism and climate change from Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania) Swansea University Crocus DLA”

#Tephratastic PhD alert!!
Study the record of volcanism hidden in the sediments of Lake Ohrid with the brilliant @pgalbert.bsky.social…and even better, you’d live on the Welsh coastline 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🌊☀️
Bad news: deadline is Monday 12th Jan!! 🧑‍💻

More info: bit.ly/4pu3FVu

This looks exciting - a new scanning method to detect tephra 👌🌋🧪🔬

Just going to repost this - EGU is looking pretty special this year, especially for the tephra fans out there!
#geology #volcano #tephra #egu2026
@egu.eu @iavcei.bsky.social
🌋🧪⚒️

What’s the collective noun for a cluster of geographers rarely seen out of the labs?

Seasons Greetings from Cambridge everyone!
🎄✨🎄✨🎄✨🎄
@camunigeography.bsky.social

Stunning footage from earlier today, when the new Kilauea eruption covered the USGS Webcam 3, which is situated in the Halemaʻumaʻu crater near the southern rim of the much larger Kilauea caldera.

This *isn't* what the people of Pompeii saw.

But it's not very far off.

Not all tephra travels by air…

Crew of the HMS Protector inspecting a large pumice clast (∼40 cm in diameter) from the 1962 Protector Shoal raft

Pumice rafts are floating mats of volcanic rock from the eruption of underwater or coastal volcanoes. Monteath et al., analyze the chemistry of pumice from the Falkland Islands and trace its origin from ∼20,000 km away in the South Sandwich Islands 🌊

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Here is a hastily constructed animated gif from different NASA satellites showing the progression of the Hayli Gubbi eruption. Note the tall ash plume spreading NE (right) and a lower, light tan ash flow(?) moving NNW. #eruption #volcano

A grey, unoccupied lab with sink, centrifuge and shelves

A hand holding a tally counter with 294 showing, next to the stage of a microscope. There is a slide on the microscope

A row of labelled centrifuge tubes, with white caps, in a test tube rack.

A few platy fragments of glass viewed under high powered optical microscopy.

Two weeks until our 2/12 PhD funding deadline! If you’re interested in a cryptotephra research project and joining @camtephra.bsky.social there’s still time drop me an email to discuss your ideas.
Dept funding info: www.geog.cam.ac.uk/postgraduate...
NERC DLA: nercdtp.esc.cam.ac.uk/StaffDirecto...

Refining Late Holocene explosive eruption histories of the Main Ethiopian Rift with lake sediment tephra records The Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) hosts a rapidly growing population exposed to eruption hazards from ∼60 active Holocene volcanoes. The geological record…

Cambridge Tephra Lab paper hot off the press: read how (2022-23 masters student) @elowilkinsonrowe.bsky.social used tephra layers in lakes to reconstruct Holocene explosive eruptions from the Main Ethiopian Rift. #tephratastic
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

~100,000 years of rainfall… 💦

🚨New paper!

Our latest study, led by Sophie Vineberg, integrates proximal & distal tephra records to reveal the timing and dispersal of large explosive eruptions at Aso volcano (Japan) 🌋

🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2025.108436

#tephra #volcanology #Aso #Japan #LakeSuigetsu #tephrochronology

Another reason to ♥️ volcanic ash

Wonderful tephra layer revealed in this peat core sample. Follow the thread to find out where from… 🌋✨

A promotional banner for the Cambridge Geography Subject Masterclass. The left side features a solid teal background with dark text reading: 'Geography Subject Masterclass 16 October 2025 Book now!'. The right side shows a partial photograph of two young students standing outdoors on a university campus, smiling at each other, with autumnal red foliage and a stone building visible in the background.

🌍 Curious about Geography? Ready to explore what it’s like to study your favourite subject at @cam.ac.uk?
Don't miss our virtual Geography Subject Masterclass on 16 October 2025!

Dept of Geography's Prof Christine Lane @chslane.bsky.social was at the Romanian Academy, Cluj, for the "Integrating ice core, marine & terrestrial environments" network meeting. The two-day event was a great success, with current and former @camtephra.bsky.social members presenting their research.

A women stands by a wooden lab desk with a spatula held over a drainpipe filled with sediment.

Close up of a sediment core with a small channel of samples removed (plus a couple of bigger gaps from previous sampling). A labelled drainpipe lies alongside, plus a centrifuge tube rack with labels filled tubes in it.

Last week PhD student @yqnatdeng.bsky.social and @chslane.bsky.social were sampling cores from an Ethiopian lake…in Aberystwyth! Here’s hoping there’s lots of ancient cryptotephra to be found!
#tephratastic

Journal of Quaternary Science Call for Papers Beyond the Eruption: Advances and applications in distal tephra analysis across the Geosciences <em>Journal of Quaternary Science</em> publishes papers on any field of Quaternary research, advancing understanding of earth's history over the last 2.58 million years.

🌋📢 Calling all #tephra researchers!
Join us in shaping this new JQS Special Issue.

"Beyond the #Eruption – Advances and Applications in Distal Tephra Analysis Across the Geosciences"

Deadline: 2 Jan 2026.

Further details below: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

We’ve had two days of science in beautiful Cluj as the “Integrating ice core, marine & terrestrial environments” network met for an open meeting. Photos of past/present @camtephra.bsky.social members presenting their work and the birthday flowers they embarrassed me with. @jinheum.bsky.social

A close up of a purple gloved hand in a lab, holding a transparent centrifuge tube, hand-labelled CT5015. The tube is approx 1/3 full with a clear liquid, floating at the top of which is a brownish cloud of fine particles. There is a dark residue at the very base of the tube, barely seen.

LST floating in LST. Small pleasures 🤓🌋

(Laacher See Tephra floating in
the heavy liquid, lithium metatungstate)

Alaska Air flights to Nome and Kotzebue canceled due to volcanic ash from Kamchatka Klyuchevskoy erupted shortly after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake two weeks ago.

Volcanic ash originating from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula canceled Alaska Airlines flights to Nome and Kotzebue Tuesday morning.

The ash plume came from the Klyuchevskoy volcano, prompting an advisory from the Alaska Volcanic Ash Advisory Center.

Cryptotephra from a ~120 ka Tondano eruption in a sediment core from Lake Towuti (Indonesia) Southeast Asia is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world, yet their long-term eruptive history has been comparatively little studied. In particular, little work has explored the pot....

We report a cryptotephra deposit from a ~120 ka Tondano eruption in a sediment core from Lake Towuti (Indonesia)!
doi.org/10.1002/jqs....

Some nice fresh looking tephra from Laki. Imagine these fragments quenching in fire fountains a kilometer high

Indonesian volcano Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki spews massive ash cloud as it erupts again Following a series of eruptions three weeks ago, Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki has begun spewing hot ash and lava again.

🌋 Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano is at it again. Biggest hazards are lahars and volcanic ash (the latter being particularly bad for air traffic). Stay safe, Indonesians!

www.bbc.com/news/article...

A photo of a whiteboard with doodles on it. In red marker is a crude sketch of an erupting volcano depositing ash in the sediments beneath a lake. Some strange dancing figures appear (are they volcanic bombs with legs?!) in the distal zone. Above the volcano someone has drawn a face with long hair and glasses (that could be a few of us in the lab past/present) and written “Oxford Tephra says Hi!!” In upper case. There is also an irregular spiky tephra shard outline. You can make out the feint reflection of the photographer and an academic poster on the wall opposite.

Cambridge tephrochronologists discover Holocene wall art from the “other place”… 👀

Come visit anytime @oxfordtephra.bsky.social

Megadrought Reveals Volcanic Ash at Lake Mead, Giving Us a Better Look at the Lake's Past Learn more about the volcanic ash researchers found in the sediment around Lake Mead’s now exposed shoreline, and how it could help us in the future.

Megadrought Reveals Volcanic Ash at Lake Mead

Volcanic ash from volcanoes in Wyoming, Idaho, and California was deposited in the rocks along the shore. The ash samples ranged from 6 million to 12 million years old.

#drought #LakeMead 🧪

www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth...

Alexander Mattin | Te Puna Pātiotio / Antarctic Research Centre | Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Thanks to Alex Mattin [ www.wgtn.ac.nz/antarctic/ab... ] for visiting yesterday and giving a fascinating talk about his search for tephra from the ~25 kyr Ōruanui eruption in Antarctic ice cores!

Congrats! But we will miss you @jinheum.bsky.social 😭

Volcanic ash is a silent killer, more so than lava: What Alaska needs to know with Mount Spurr likely to erupt When volcanoes like Alaska’s Mount Spurr erupt, the ash can damage people’s lungs, smother crops and kill animals, and the harm can continue to spread long afterward.

Here's the link: theconversation.com/volcanic-ash...