Launched in 1995, Tephrabase was the world's first tephra database available on the World Wide Web. This new version of the website has been available since May 2025 and you can search for tephra layers found in Iceland, Europe and central Mexico. Further details are available about the database and its integration into the NSF funded Tephra Information Portal (TiP). There will be further improvements to the website and also new data available soon. See News for more information.
Tephra (volcanic ash) layers are an invaluable tool in palaeoenvironmental studies, as well a record of volcanic activity. The data produced by such research can be difficult to handle and disseminate. Tephrabase is a database of tephra layers found in Iceland, north-west and northern Europe, Russia and central Mexico. Details on the location, name, age and geochemistry of tephra layers are stored in the database, as well as information about relevant volcanoes and volcanic systems. A comprehensive reference database is also included. Tephrabase can also create tephrostratigraphic profiles from all European sites and calculates and creates graphs of sediment accumulation rates for soil profiles in Iceland.
There are wide range of tephra resources, including other tephra databases, available and some of these are listed below.
