Emma Watts: From ash to eruption: using volcanic fingerprints to uncover Japan’s volcanic history

Volcanoes are among the most dynamic features on Earth, yet understanding how often they erupt and the style of their eruptions remains a major challenge. Each volcano has its own personality, but there are also similarities between them. Volcanic tephra, fragments of magma ejected during an eruption, such as ash, is commonly produced by volcanic activity and can be dispersed hundreds of
kilometres from its source. So how can we use tephra to our advantage?

In this talk, we will explore how the chemical composition of tephra can be used to fingerprint volcanic deposits and track the distribution of volcanic ash across large regions. We will then discover how these layers of microscopic volcanic ash, preserved within sediments from Japan, the Sea of Japan, and the Pacific Ocean, act as time capsules. By matching these volcanic fingerprints to their source
eruptions, we can reconstruct thousands of years of volcanic activity and uncover the hidden history of Japanese volcanism.