Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Zealand archipelago: the northern North Island (including Northland, Auckland, and the Coromandel 13 Peninsula); the southwest coast of the North Island; the Canterbury coast (South Island); and the 14 Otago coast (South Island). In the North Island the RSL highstand commenced c. 8,100-7,2400 cal yr 15 BP when present mean sea-level (PMSL) was first attained. This is c. 600-1,400 years earlier than has 16 been previously indicated for the New Zealand region as a whole, and is consistent with recent 17Holocene RSL reconstructions from Australia. In North Island locations the early-Holocene sea-level 18 highstand was quite pronounced, with RSL up to 2.75 m higher than present. In the South Island the 19 onset of highstand conditions was later, with the first attainment of PMSL being between 7,000-20 6,400 cal yr BP. In the mid-Holocene the northern North Island experienced the largest sea-level 21 highstand, with RSL up to 3.00 m higher than present. This is demonstrably higher than the 22 highstand recorded for the southwest North Island and Otago regions. A number of different drivers 23 region, while research from Australia has suggested that north-south variations in Holocene RSL 32 changes due to hydro-isostatic influences are limited or non-existent. At the regional-to local-scale, 33 post-glacial meltwater loading on the continental shelf around New Zealand is predicted by GIA 34 modelling to have a significant effect on the timing and magnitude of RSL changes through the 35 phenomenon of continental levering. The spatial variation in continental levering is controlled by the 36 configuration of the coast and the width of the adjacent continental shelf, with continental levering 37 providing a robust explanation for the observed spatial and temporal variations in RSL changes. 38Further research is required to characterise the regional and local effects of different tectonic 39 regimes, wave climates, and sediment regimes. These are potentially very significant drivers of RSL 40 variability at the regional-to local-scale. However, the magnitude of their potential effects remains 41
equivocal. 42Highlights 43 RSL histories were reconstructed for four regions in the New Zealand archipelago 44 Northern sites experience RSL rise earlier compared to southern sites 45 Northern sites experience a higher-magnitude highstand compared to southern sites 46 Long-wavelength signals from Antarctica cannot explain the observed variation in RSL 47 A range of processes potentiall...