Micro-XRF-inferred depositional history of the Orakei maar lake sediment sequence, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Lake sediment records offer insights into past climate and environmental changes. There are, however, few continuous lake sediment records from the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes that span the last glacial interval (LGI) and have the requisite chronological control and sampling resolution. Orakei maar paleolake in the Auckland Volcanic Field, New Zealand, is an exception, as it contains a high-resolution record of continuous lacustrine sedimentation from its formative phreatomagmatic eruption ~ 130 ka, until post-glacial sea-level rise breached the crater tuff rim and connected the lake to the sea ~ 9 ka. We used micro-XRF core scanning, dry bulk density, loss-on-ignition and visual facies descriptions to investigate the depositional history of Orakei maar lake as a response to regional and global drivers of climate change, and to erosional events in the lake catchment. The climate history of the lake was divided into six depositional phases: (I) Early warming with frequent in-wash events, followed by climate fluctuations coeval with marine isotope stages (MIS) 5e to mid-5c, (II) Warm, quiescent depositional conditions during mid-MIS 5c to 5a, (III) A colder, windier interval during MIS 4, (IV) Warmer conditions with dominantly autochthonous sedimentation during MIS 3, (V) Cold conditions followed by a slow temperature increase and the onset of sea-level rise during late MIS 2, (VI) Warm conditions that culminated in formation of a peat unit at the top of the Orakei lacustrine sediment sequence, which was terminated by an influx of massive marine muds into the basin at 9.75 ka. Comparison of the inferred climate evolution at Orakei with climate inferences from the global marine benthic MIS record during LGI shows general agreement, though inferred climate changes consistently occur earlier at Orakei than in the MIS. There is also general agreement in temperature changes inferred from the Orakei record and from other regional lake sediment records, but more detailed comparison requires additional proxy climate data such as pollen, organic geochemistry and biomarkers, to better understand discrepancies between some records. This study demonstrated the great potential of the Orakei record for paleoclimate inference and the applicability of micro-XRF core scanning data for addressing questions about paleoclimate and paleoenvironment. It also highlighted past intervals that require further study.