The diageneticevolutionof calciticcool-waterlimestonescan be markedly differentfromthat for aragonite-dominated tropical carbonates. Thispetrographicstudydevelopsa"sequencestratigraphic"approachto cool-watercarbonatediagenesisbased onthechronological occurrenceof all diageneticfeatures (not only cement phases) within sedimentarysuccessions,their verticaland lateral distribution, and their grouping into discontinuity-bounded (by dissolutionsurfaces, fractures, renucleationevents) suites at a thin-sectionscale. The progressionof diageneticenvironmentsthat moved througha successionis relatedto diageneticdiscontinuitiescorrelatablethroughoutthe studyarea. In our limestones acriticaldiscontinuityeventto decipheristhefirstevidenceofmechanically-inducedskeletalfracturing, enablingthedefinitionofprecompactionandpost-compaction diageneticfeatures. A comparisonofjust thepre-compactiondiageneticsuitesinsamplesfromaboveand below significant outcropdisconformities enablesisolationofthe"specificdiagenesis"ofunconformity-bounded depositional units,whichisthatsuiteof diageneticeventsassociatedwith the evolutionof the sedimentationrealmof a unit,exclusiveof diageneticoverprintssharedwith anyoverlying unit throughan unconformitysincethese relateto some subsequent,differentdepositionalstage. In tum, the specificdiagenesisof a succession of depositional faciesbetween consecutiveunconformitiesmay thenbe interpretedwithin a sequencestratigraphicframework.Sectionsof cool-waterPlioceneskeletallimestonesin easternNorth Island,NewZealand,comprisedeepening-and then sometimesshallowingupwards,unconformity-bounded depositional packages,or sequences. Werecognizetendifferentspecificdiageneticsignaturesintheserocksthat arecorrelatable todepositional lithofacies. Thevertical distribution ofspecific diagenetic signatureswithinthesequences exhibitsatrendfrommainly constructiveto mainlydestructivediagenesisin the deepening-upwards memberofthe sequences,andconstructivein theirshallowing-upwards portion,thatcan be integratedina sequencestratigraphicframework. Constructivediagenesisoccursinthelowerpartof the transgressive system tract (TST) and in the upper part of the regressivesystem tract (RST),whereas destructivediagenesisis dominant in the upper part of the TST, the highstandsystem tract (HST), and the lower part of the RST.