tephra from subduction-zone volcanoes is typically?

Question

is it light-colored ash, or light-colored cinder, or dark-colored ash, or dark-colored cinder, or absent?

Answer 1

In a subduction zone volcano..tephra is often light colored ash..but it can be ash or cinder, and it can be light or dark colored. The USGS web site below shows photos of light colored ash from subduction zone volcanos, St. Helens and Pinatubo.

Tephra is a general term for fragments of volcanic rock and lava regardless of size that are blasted into the air by explosions or carried upward by hot gases in eruption columns or lava fountains. Tephra includes large dense blocks and bombs, and small light rock debris such as scoria, pumice, reticulite, and ash.
As tephra falls to the ground with increasing distance from a volcano, the average size of the individual rock particles becomes smaller and thickness of the resulting deposit becomes thinner. Small tephra stays aloft in the eruption cloud for longer periods of time, which allows wind to blow tiny particles farther from an erupting volcano.

Answer 2

dark