Everything about Tephra totally explained
Tephra is air-fall material produced by a
volcanic eruption regardless of composition or fragment size. 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 or sometimes just
clasts. 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 several weeks. 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:
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.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Tephra'.
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