Stratigraphy and chronology of a 15 ka sequence of multi-sourced silicic tephras in a montane peat bog, eastern North Island, New Zealand

We document the stratigraphy, composition, and chronology of a succession o f 16 distal, silicic tephra layers interbedded with lateglacial and Holocen e peats and muds up to c. 15 000 radiocarbon years (c. 18 000 calendar year s) old at a montane site (Kaipo Bog) in eastern North Island, New Zealand. Aged from 665 +/- 15 to 14 700 +/- 95 C-14 yr BP, the tephras are derived f rom six volcanic centres in North Island, three of which are rhyolitic (Oka taina, Taupo, Maroa), one peralkaline (Tuhua), and two andesitic (Tongariro , Egmont). Correlations are based on multiple criteria: field properties an d stratigraphic interrelationships, ferro-magnesian silicate mineral assemb lages, glass-shard major element composition (from electron microprobe anal ysis), and radiocarbon dating. We extend the known distribution of tephras in eastern North Island and provide compositional data that add to their po tential usefulness as isochronous markers. The chronostratigraphic framewor k established for the Kaipo sequence, based on both site-specific and indep endently derived tephra-based radiocarbon ages, provides the basis for fine -resolution paleoenvironmental studies at a climatically sensitive terrestr ial site from the mid latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Tephras identif ied as especially useful paleoenvironmental markers include Rerewhakaaitu a nd Waiohau (lateglacial), Konini (late glacial-early Holocene), Tuhua (midd le Holocene), and Taupo and Kaharoa (late Kolocene).