Tephra research is inherently multidisciplinary. A single tephra bed may be used to inform the date of an event (tephrochronology), volcanology (e.g. size of an eruption, eruption dynamics, atmospheric dispersal), volcanic source attribution and magma genesis (geochemistry, petrology), relationship between societies and the environment (human geography, archeology), etc. and enable researchers to assess social, environmental, and global impacts (e.g. public health, ecology, landscape evolution, climate, and beyond). Tephra data and metadata are commonly disconnected and stored in different databases inhibiting researchers from accessing available data resources. The premise to utilizing these multidisciplinary data sets relies on the proper collection, management, and documentation of all related products in accessible, ideally integrated formats.

Through cohesive efforts to standardize best practices related to collection, analysis, and reporting of tephra data, we will facilitate answering interdisciplinary questions with global benefits. The global tephra community continues to work towards creating and publishing data that is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable (FAIR). This has been exemplified through the creation of cyberstructures focused from data collection (e.g. StraboSpot), to data reporting and archiving (e.g. common templates), to data preservation in terminal repositories (e.g. IEDA2’s EarthChem and SESAR, GeoDIVA, and TephraBase), to data (re)analysis (e.g. VICTOR).

In this session, we invite contributions across all fields of tephra science that integrate diverse datasets from multiple disciplines and/or field and laboratory methodologies through data visualization, numerical modeling, and statistical analyses. We especially encourage submissions that present their data work flows, best practices, and advances in cyberinfrastructure (applications, tools, data systems, repositories, etc.).

This session is sponsored by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) Commission on Tephrochronology (COT).