Welcome to INTAV, the International Focus Group on Tephrochronology and Volcanism. INTAV is a worldwide collective of geoscientists with a central interest in tephra (volcanic ash) studies and their application as a linking, dating, and synchronising tool in a wide range of disciplines including Quaternary stratigraphy, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology, physical geography, geomorphology, pedology, archaeology, geochronology, and volcanology, including volcanic petrology, and volcanic hazards and impacts. The word ‘tephra’ derives from a Greek word meaning 'ashes'. Tephrochonology refers to the use of tephras as a stratigraphic linking and dating tool but it is also used more broadly as a collective term for the study of tephras.

INTAV was formed in 2007 at the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA). congress held in Cairns and is affiliated to that organisation and to the Stratigraphy and Chronology Commission (SACCOM). It replaces previous INQUA-affiliated groupings of tephrochronologists and volcanologists known as Sub-commission on Tephrochronology and Volcanism (SCOTAV), Commission on Tephrochronology (COT), and earlier groups dating back to 1961.

This website is simply an entry point for those interested in tephra studies. The names and addresses of the current executive of INTAV are given. Please feel free to contact them about any matters relating to INTAV activities.

Contact addresses of the current executive INTAV 2011-2015

President
Professor David J. Lowe
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences
University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105
Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
d.lowe@waikato.ac.nz

Vice president
Professor Takehiko Suzuki

Department of Geography

Tokyo Metropolitan University

1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan

suzukit@tmu.ac.jp

Secretary
Dr Victoria Smith

Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art
University of Oxford

Oxford OX1 3QY, UK

victoria.smith@rlaha.ox.ac.uk