Millimetre‐scale pollen analysis of non‐varved lacustrine sediments from Onepoto maar palaeolake, Auckland, reveals distal vegetation responses and landscape recovery following the ~25.5‐ka Ōruanui supereruption, New Zealand

ABSTRACT The ~25.5‐ka Ōruanui supereruption (Taupō volcano, New Zealand) erupted >1100 km3 of pyroclastic material during the Last Glacial Maximum. The impacts of this event on climate and the New Zealand environment remain unresolved, particularly on ecological timescales. Using sediment cores from Onepoto maar palaeolake, Auckland (~240 km upwind from source), we have analysed pollen assemblages at contiguous 1‐mm intervals, around an intact 3‐cm layer of the Kawakawa‐Ōruanui Tephra to resolve and assess post‐eruption vegetation impacts and landscape recovery. Sediments immediately above the tephra record a decline in the relative abundance of the dominant canopy species of Fuscospora, and concurrent increase in the abundances of grasses, herbs, ferns and shrubs. These changes reflect a brief (