Professor Victoria C. Smith

Research Activities

I am Professor of Tephrochronology in the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art in the School for Archaeology. I obtained my PhD in Geology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and I was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol from 2006 until 2009.

My research focuses on large explosive eruptions and in particular their age, composition, and magnitude. I use this information to gain understanding on the tempo of explosive eruptions and establish their impact. The glass and mineral compositions of the volcanic deposits (tephra) serve as chemical fingerprints of specific eruptions that allow us to correlate and synchronise records that contain the volcanic ash even if it can only be identified with a microscope. These correlations allow us to map the full extent of the tephra dispersal, refine age models and constrain the eruption ages, and precisely link palaeoclimate and/or archaeological records. This allows us to identify temporal and spatial variations in eruptions, climate and/or culture

Links

• An apatite for understanding volcanoes
• MEXIDRILL: The Basin of Mexico Drilling Program (CHALCO)
• RESET — Response of Humans to Abrupt Environmental Transitions
• RiftVolc - Rift Volcanism: Past, Present and Future
• Lake Suigetsu 2006 Varved Sediment Core project
• NSF-NERC Campanian Ignimbrite project
• CAVES Africa Project - Agencies of behavioural change in early modern humans in NW Africa