A Tephrochronological Database

Welcome to the Tephrabase website.

Tephra layers are now an invaluable tool in palaeoenvironmental studies. The data produced by such research can be difficult to handle and disseminate. Tephrabase is a database of tephra layers found in Iceland, north-west and northern Europe, Russia and central Mexico. Details on the location, name, age and geochemistry of tephra layers are stored in the database, as well as information about relevant volcanoes and volcanic systems. A comprehensive reference database is also included. A new Laacher See supplementary data collection has been added.

Laacher See Tephra
Details on sites where the Laacher See tephra has been found are now available on Tephrabase. Compiled by Felix Riede, this supplement to Tephrabase allows details and references for all of the 442 sites to be viewed [updated January 2010]. Further data, including geochemistry, will be added shortly. More information about this project is available here or go straight to view the Laacher See sites.

New Icelandic Sites
Four new sites have been added to Tephrabase. These are from the Bjarkarlundur area near Reykhólar, north-west Iceland. The Saksunarvatn Tephra is found at all of the sites and are published in Lloyd et al. (2009) Lateglacial to Holocene Relative Sea-Level Changes in the Bjarkarlundur Area near Reykhólar, Northwest Iceland. Journal of Quaternary Science 24(7), 816-831.

Future Developments More sites and geochemical data will be added soon to Tephrabase and if you have sites you would like added please get in touch.

In order to help people donate data to Tephrabase, I have created a Word file (form) or PDF file which contain details about the data required. Please download either of the files and either fill in the form or use them to help you include all the information required. Any comments or questions welcome. Please email any data to me, anthony.newton@ed.ac.uk I intend to create a more flexible system in the future.

hosted by: School of GeoSciences
The University of Edinburgh

Queries: Anthony Newton (anthony.newton@ed.ac.uk)

The project was originally funded by a grant
from the U.K.'s Natural Environment Research Council