Soil nutrient dynamics during podzol development under lowland temperate rain forest in New Zealand

► Rapid podzol formation in coastal dunes under the super-humid climate of Westland, New Zealand. ► Phosphorus in surface soil present predominantly in organic forms for the majority of the sequence.. ► Increasing phosphorus limitation indicated by changes in N:P ratio and available phosphate. ► Decline in total phosphorus consistent with that at the nearby Franz Josef post-glacial sequence. ► Possibility of reconciling phosphorus depletion rates among chronosequences worldwide.