skip to main content


Title: Efficient inversion and uncertainty quantification of a tephra fallout model: TEPHRA INVERSION
NSF-PAR ID:
10030503
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Volume:
122
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2169-9313
Page Range / eLocation ID:
281 to 294
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. A series of international workshops held in 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2022 focused on improving tephra studies from field collection through publication and encouraging FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) data practices for tephra data and metadata. Two consensus needs for tephra studies emerged from the 2014 and 2017 workshops: (a) standardization of tephra field data collection, geochemical analysis, correlation, and data reporting, and (b) development of next generation computer tools and databases to facilitate information access across multidisciplinary communities. To achieve (a), we developed a series of recommendations for best practices in tephra studies, from sample collection through analysis and data reporting (https://zenodo.org/record/3866266). A 4-part virtual workshop series (https://tephrochronology.org/cot/Tephra2022/) was held in February and March, 2022, to update the tephra community on these developments, to get community feedback, to learn of unmet needs, and to plan a future roadmap for open and FAIR tephra data. More than 230 people from 25 nations registered for the workshop series. The community strongly emphasized the need for better computer systems, including physical infrastructure (repositories and servers), digital infrastructure (software and tools) and human infrastructure (people, training, and professional assistance), to store, manage and serve global tephra datasets. Some desired attributes of improved computer systems include: 1) user friendliness 2) ability to easily ingest multiparameter tephra data (using best practice recommended data fields); 3) interoperability with existing data repositories; 4) development of tool add-ons (plotting and statistics); 5) improved searchability 6) development of a tephra portal with access to distributed data systems, and 7) commitments to long-term support from funding agencies, publishers and the cyberinfrastructure community. 
    more » « less
  2. Abstract A tephra-rich cherty-clayey Famennian succession within the major Brzeźnica olistostrome in the Bardo Mountains, Central Sudetes, SW Poland, preserves a record of the lost ocean later incorporated into the Variscan orogenic belt. Fluctuating but mostly oligotrophic regimes and low primary production levels were influenced by weak up-welling below the perennial oxygen minimum zone, which controlled the interplay between biosiliceous and siliciclastic deposition in the oceanic basin, with episodic oxygen deficiency. The Hangenberg Black Shale has been identified in this oceanic setting based on its characteristics described worldwide (including mercury enrichments). A tectonic uplift of the sediment source area near the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary, recorded in the distinguishing provenance signal of old continental crust, was paired with a global transgression, anoxia, and volcanic episode in an interglacial interval. Assuming paleogeographic affinity with the Bavarian facies of the Saxothuringian terrane, we interpret the allochthonous sediments as part of an accretionary prism that was gravitationally redeposited into the late orogenic basin in front of advancing Variscan nappes. The oceanic basin parental to the Bardo pelagic succession is therefore thought to represent a tract of the waning Saxothuringian Ocean in the Peri-Gondwanan paleogeographic domain that was eventually subducted beneath the Brunovistulian margin of Laurussia. The sediments of the Bardo Ocean basin also include a distal record of Famennian explosive volcanic activity that was likely related to a continental magmatic arc whose remnants are preserved as the Vrbno Group of the East Sudetes. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract Tephra is a unique volcanic product with an unparalleled role in understanding past eruptions, long-term behavior of volcanoes, and the effects of volcanism on climate and the environment. Tephra deposits also provide spatially widespread, high-resolution time-stratigraphic markers across a range of sedimentary settings and thus are used in numerous disciplines (e.g., volcanology, climate science, archaeology). Nonetheless, the study of tephra deposits is challenged by a lack of standardization that inhibits data integration across geographic regions and disciplines. We present comprehensive recommendations for tephra data gathering and reporting that were developed by the tephra science community to guide future investigators and to ensure that sufficient data are gathered for interoperability. Recommendations include standardized field and laboratory data collection, reporting and correlation guidance. These are organized as tabulated lists of key metadata with their definition and purpose. They are system independent and usable for template, tool, and database development. This standardized framework promotes consistent documentation and archiving, fosters interdisciplinary communication, and improves effectiveness of data sharing among diverse communities of researchers. 
    more » « less