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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Nick CutlerORCiD, Emily Sear
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Volcanologists frequently use grain size distributions (GSDs) in tephra layers to infer eruption parameters. However, for long-past eruptions, the accuracy of the reconstruction depends upon the correspondence between the initial tephra deposit and preserved tephra layer on which inferences are based. We ask: how closely does the GSD of a decades-old tephra layer resemble the deposit from which it originated? We addressed this question with a study of the tephra layer produced by the eruption of Mount St Helens, USA, in May 1980. We compared grain size distributions from the fresh, undisturbed tephra with grain size measurements from the surviving tephra layer. We found that the overall grainsize characteristics of the tephra layer were similar to the original deposit, and that distinctive features identified by earlier authors had been preserved. However, detailed analysis of our samples showed qualitative differences, specifically a loss of fine material (which we attributed to ‘winnowing’). Understanding how tephra deposits are transformed over time is critical to efforts to reconstruct past eruptions, but inherently difficult to study. We propose long-term, tephra application experiments as a potential way forward.
Author(s): Cutler N, Streeter RT, Dugmore AJ, Sear ER
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Bulletin of Volcanology
Year: 2021
Volume: 83
Online publication date: 12/06/2021
Acceptance date: 03/06/2021
Date deposited: 10/06/2021
ISSN (print): 0258-8900
ISSN (electronic): 1432-0819
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-021-01469-w
DOI: 10.1007/s00445-021-01469-w
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