Re‐identification of c. 15 700 cal yr BP tephra bed at Kaipo Bog, eastern North Island: Implications for dispersal of Rotorua and Puketarata tephra beds

Abstract

A 10 mm thick, c. 15 700 calendar yr BP (c. 13 100 14CyrBP)rhyolitic tephra bed in the well‐studied montane Kaipo Bog sequence of eastern North Island was previously correlated with Maroa‐derived Puketarata Tephra. We revise this correlation to Okataina‐derived Rotorua Tephra based on new compositional data from biotite phenocrysts and glass. The new correlation limits the known dispersal of Puketarata Tephra (sensu stricto, c. 16 800 cal yr BP) and eliminates requirements to either reassess its age or to invoke dual Puketarata eruptive events. Our data show that Rotorua Tephra comprises two glass‐shard types: an early‐erupted low‐K2O type that was dispersed mostly to the northwest, and a high‐K2O type dispersed mostly to the south and southeast, contemporary with late‐stage lava extrusion. Late‐stage Rotorua eruptives contain biotite that is enriched in FeO compared with biotite from Puketarata pyroclastics. The occurrence of Rotorua Tephra in Kaipo Bog (100 km from the source) substantially extends its known distribution to the southeast. Our analyses demonstrate that unrecognised syn‐eruption compositional and dispersal changes can cause errors in fingerprinting tephra deposits. However, the compositional complexity, once recognised, provides additional fingerprinting criteria, and also documents magmatic and dispersal processes.