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Connecting, synchronising, and dating with tephras: principles and applications of tephrochronology in Quaternary research

Abstract
Tephrochronology is a unique method for linking and dating geological, palaeoecological, palaeoclimatic, or archaeological sequences or events. The method relies firstly on stratigraphy and the law of superposition, which apply in any study that connects or correlates deposits from one place to another. Secondly, it relies on characterising and hence identifying or ‘fingerprinting’ tephra layers using either physical properties evident in the field or those obtained from laboratory analysis, including mineralogical examination by optical microscopy or geochemical analysis of glass shards or crystals (e.g., Fe-Ti oxides, ferromagnesian minerals) using the electron microprobe and other tools. Thirdly, the method is enhanced when a numerical age is obtained for a tephra layer by (1) radiometric methods such as radiocarbon, fission-track, U-series, (U-Th)/He, or Ar/Ar dating, (2) incremental dating methods including dendrochronology or varved sediments or layering in ice cores, or (3) age-equivalent methods such as palaeomagnetism or correlation with marine oxygen isotope stages or palynostratigraphy. Once known, that age can be transferred from one site to the next using stratigraphic methods and by matching compositional characteristics, i.e., comparing ‘fingerprints’ from each layer. Used this way, tephrochronology is an age-equivalent dating method.
Type
Conference Contribution
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Lowe, D. J. (2016). Connecting, synchronising, and dating with tephras: principles and applications of tephrochronology in Quaternary research. In M. J. Vandergoes, K. M. Rogers, J. Turnbull, J. Howarth, E. Keller, & H. Cowan (Eds.), 13th Quaternary Techniques Short Course: Measuring Change and Reconstructing Past Environments. (pp. 1–31). Lower Hutt, New Zealand: National Isotope Centre, GNS Science, New Zealand.
Date
2016
Publisher
GNS Science, New Zealand
Degree
Supervisors
Rights
This article was written for 13th Quaternary Techniques short Course. Used with permission.