Pullar-Vucetich Prize
Awarded in 'even' years only
The Pullar-Vucetich Prize shall be awarded to the author or co-authors of the most meritorious contribution to tephrochronological research in the New Zealand region published in the previous three years.
Tephrochronological research shall be deemed to include its applications in any field of science, such as archaeology, geomorphology, oceanography, paleobotany, petrology, soil science, stratigraphy, neotectonics, wherein tephra studies are used to elucidate past events.
Past Pullar-Vucetich Prize winners
| Year | Person | From | For work on |
| 2020 | Callum Rees | Massey University | Tephrostratigraphic constraints on sedimentation and tectonism in the Whanganui Basin |
| 2018 | Magret Damaschke | Massey University | Tephrostratigraphic research into the eruptive history of Mount Taranaki. |
| 2016 | Jenni Hopkins | Victoria | A new way for identifying cryptotephras in lacustrine sediment cores. |
| 2012 | Natalia Pardo | Massey | Reconstructing the largest explosive eruptions of Mt. Ruapehu. |
| 2010 | Michael Turner | Macquarie University | Oxidation states in titanomagnetites to distinguish the different eruption styles of Mt Taranaki. |
| 2008 | Maria Gehrels | Plymouth University | Cryptotephras in northern New Zealand. |
| 2006 | Brad Pillans | ANU | Pleistocene silicic tephras of Wanganui Basin |
| 2004 | Alan Palmer | Massey | Onland and offshore tephra studies |
| 2002 | Vicki Smith | Auckland | Okataina Volcanic Centre |
| 2000 | Dennis Eden | Palmerston North | Multi-sourced distal tephras and landscape evolution, eastern North Island |
| 1998 | Shane Cronin | Massey | Tephra identification and Ruapehu and Tongariro ring plains |
| 1996 | Susan Donoghue | Massey/HKU | Tephrostratigraphic work on style of prehistoric eruptions, Mt Ruapehu |
| 1994 | Brent Alloway | Auckland | Tephrostratigraphy and chronology of the Taranaki and Wanganui regions |
| 1992 | Phil Shane | Victoria | Plio-Pleistocene tephrostratigraphic correlations in southern North Island |
| 1988 | No award made | - | - |
| 1986 | David Lowe | Waikato | Quaternary tephrostratigraphy of the Waikato Basin |
Alan Pullar and Colin Vucetich
In the 1950s and 1960s Alan Pullar (left) and Colin Vucetich (right) worked for the DSIR Soil Bureau, mapping soils in the North Island. Alan worked in Gisborne and Whakatāne, and Colin around Rotorua. They recognised that the soils were formed on volcanic ash layers, which were often visible in road cuttings.
The men started tracing out distinctive ash layers across the region. Work on ash layers (later called tephrostratigraphy) was outside official Soil Bureau policy and was banned. Much of their work was therefore done in weekends and holidays on what they called ‘secret correlation missions’.
Between 1963 and 1975 Colin and Alan published a series of papers on the sequence and characteristics of the main volcanic eruptions in the Taupō and Rotorua region. This work has been the foundation for later volcanological studies as well as the understanding of soil properties.
Initial funds for the Pullar Vucetich Prize were donated by family and colleagues of Alan Pullar and Colin Vucetich.
