THE INTEGRATION AND STANDARDIZATION OF EAST AFRICAN TEPHRA DATASETS: IMPROVING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY COMMUNICATION WITH EARTHD

Sedimentary records found in the East African Rift System (EARS) contain a wealth of information valuable to many scientific disciplines including geology, paleontology, and archaeology. Abundant tephra deposits preserved in the record are prolific chronostratigraphic markers that can be used to constrain timing and rates of rifting, volcanism, and climatic events in this important and dynamic region. However, the EARS tephrostratigraphy record is often studied in isolation with little communication among disciplines regarding sample access and data availability. Centralization and standardization of regional tephra datasets is needed to facilitate cross-disciplinary communication and realize the maximum scientific potential of these sedimentary records.

EARThD (East African Rift Tephra Database) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded data compilation project that seeks to integrate and standardize published tephra geochemical datasets from the rift into PetDB, a comprehensive and widely accessible NSF sponsored database, maintained by the Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance (IEDA). Since 2018, undergraduate students from Salem State University and Pennsylvania State University have led this extensive data mining effort. Our team is majority female with international students and members of underrepresented minorities in geoscience. Over 850 academic papers and books centered on the sedimentary and volcanological records of the EARS have been identified, and over 730 publications containing original data were downloaded and screened. Currently, data from more than 400 publications have been entered and are awaiting publication to PetDB for viewing, downloading, and long-term curation (https://www.earthchem.org/petdb). By standardizing geochemical and geochronological data, together with documenting related physical tephra information, we aim to provide a valuable resource to the broad EARS community and foster new research avenues.