A 426-year floating tree-ring chronology fromPhyllocladus trichomanoidesburied by the Taupo eruption at Pureora, central North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

This paper presents a 426-year chronology, developed from Phyllocladus tnchomanoides D.Don cross-sections preserved in a forest buried by the Taupo eruption (c. A.D. 186) at a site in Pureora Forest Park, Central North Island, New Zealand. The chronology statistics are compared with those from four contemporary sites representing a wide range of latitudes and altitudes. The modern site most closely resembling the buried forest in these parameters was one nearby at Waihora lagoon. The large amount of common variance in the chronologies, and significant correlations between trees from both the buried forest and Waihora lagoon sites, indicate good potential for palaeoclimatic reconstruction. The stage of formation of the incomplete outer ring observed in wood from the buried forest chronology indicates that the Taupo volcano erupted in late summer or early autumn.

Composition and structure of forest overwhelmed at Pureora, central North Island, New Zealand, during the Taupo eruption (c. AD 130)

“…He found that the annual growth rate in buried forest tanekaha trees was slower (0.75 mm/yr) than those calculated for living tanekaha from four sites scattered throughout its distributional range (0.78-1.69 mm/yr) (Dunwiddie, 1979). A recent dendrochronological study oftanekaha from Waihora Lagoon, 18 ktn south-south-east of, and 90 m a.s.l, higher than, the buried forest site, also revealed a faster average annual growth rate than for the buried forest trees (Palmer et al, 1988).…”

Ages of 24 widespread tephras erupted since 30,000 years ago in New Zealand, with re-evaluation of the timing and palaeoclimatic implications of the Lateglacial cool episode recorded at Kaipo bog

“…yr BP mean age) by Hogg et al (2012). Treering data and preserved plant macrofossils show that the eruption took place during the austral late summer to early autumn period, approximately MarchApril (Clarkson et al, 1988;Palmer et al, 1988 landslide complex of large-scale block slides (in which Lake Waikareiti has formed) in hilland mountain-country near Lake Waikaremoana in the Urewera ranges of Te Urewera National Park, eastern North Island (Fig. 1;Ward, 1995;Lowe et al, 1999;Beetham et al, 2002;Leonard et al, 2010).…”

Revised calendar date for the Taupo eruption derived by 14C wiggle-matching using a New Zealand kauri 14C calibration data set

“…The pyroclastic flow engulfed a volume of vegetation of around one cubic kilometre (Hudspith et al, 2010). Further afield, the shockwave of the air blast flattened forested areas (before the trees were engulfed by the pyroclastic flow) at two sites, Pureora and Benneydale, which are ~20 km apart and ~50 km northwest of Lake Taupo, central North Island (Clarkson et al, 1988(Clarkson et al, , 1992(Clarkson et al, , 1995Palmer et al, 1988;Wilmshurst and McGlone, 1996;Lowe and de Lange, 2000). The Pureora buried forest (38° 30'S, 175° 35'E - Fig.…”