tephra

Tephra horizons in south-central Iceland. The thick and light coloured layer at the height of the volcanologists hands is rhyolitic tephra from Hekla.

Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size or emplacement mechanism.^[1] Tephra is typically rhyolitic in composition, as most explosive volcanoes are the product of the more viscous felsic or high silica magmas.

Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground they remain as tephra unless hot enough to fuse together into pyroclastic rock or tuff. The distribution of tephra following an eruption usually involves the largest boulders falling to the ground quickest and therefore closest to the vent, while smaller fragments travel further—ash can often travel for thousands of miles, even circumglobal, as it can stay in the stratosphere for days to weeks following an eruption. When large amounts of tephra accumulate in the atmosphere from massive volcanic eruptions (or from a multitude of smaller eruptions occurring simultaneously), they can reflect light and heat from the sun back through the atmosphere, in some cases causing the temperature to drop, resulting in a climate change: "volcanic winter". Tephra mixed in with precipitation can also be acidic and cause acid rain and snowfall.

Tephra fragments are classified by size:

• Ash - particles smaller than 2 mm (0.08 inches) in diameter
• Lapilli or volcanic cinders - between 2 and 64 mm (0.08 and 2.5 inches) in diameter
• Volcanic bombs or volcanic blocks - larger than 64 mm (2.5 inches) in diameter

The words "tephra" and "pyroclast" both derive from Greek. Tephra means "ash". Pyro means "fire" and klastos means "broken"; thus pyroclasts carry the connotation of "broken by fire".

The use of tephra layers, which bear their own unique chemistry and character, as temporal marker horizons in archaeological and geological sites is known as tephrochronology.

Notes

External links

• How Volcanoes Work
• Volcanic Materials Identification