White River Tephra Resedimentation in Alaska and Yukon

Two late Holocene eruptions from Mount Churchill, dated to approximately 1887 and 1147 years B.P., produced the White River tephra deposit covering 540,000 km². The dataset from the Government of Yukon focuses on the resedimentation of this tephra, which forms large terraces near Klutlan Glacier. It provides chronostratigraphic control for interpreting the cultural and environmental impacts of ancient eruptions.

Use Cases

• Establishing chronostratigraphic markers for archaeological and paleoenvironmental sites based on the distinct tephra layers.
• Modeling volcaniclastic sediment transport and terrace formation based on the described resedimentation processes.
• Interpreting the cultural impact of ancient eruptions based on the widespread tephra-fall deposit.
• Analyzing the complexity of volcanic stratigraphy within individual glacial terraces as mentioned in the preliminary analysis.

Strengths

• Covers a geographically extensive area of 540,000 km² across Alaska, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories.
• Provides precise temporal anchors from two well-dated Plinian eruptions (ca. 1887 and 1147 years B.P.).
• Focuses on a distinct, widely dispersed marker layer (White River tephra) important for correlation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific study region in the Wrangell area.

Provenance

Source

Government of Yukon | Gouvernement du Yukon

Collection Method

Analysis of primary air-fall and resedimented volcaniclastic deposits.

Time Range

Late Holocene (specifically ca. 1887 and 1147 years B.P.)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-17 16:09:25.566207; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Wrangell region of eastern Alaska, Yukon Territory, and Northwest Territories, Canada.