What is the Proper Amount of Rings Needed for Accurate Dating of Trees?

Ethan Cade* and Amy Hessl, Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506

Field (Broad Category): Geography/Geology (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences) 

Student’s Major: Environmental Geoscience 

Ancient trees can yield important climate date through their chronologies. Many of these samples are hundreds of years old and by dating these trees, it is possible to uncover more of a region’s climate history prior to instrumental records. The process we used to analyse species of trees includes counting the outer 300 rings to ascertain whether a match in the chronology can be found. However, it has been raised that only 200 rings may be needed for this process, at least with some species. Our aim is to test whether counting 200 rings would be a more sufficient process that produces the same results for Athrotaxis Selaginoides as well as other species utilized in dendrochronology. Therefore, a test of whether results are the same with 200 or 300 rings was conducted with both Athrotaxis Selaginoides and other species. Based on preliminary results, it is expected that Conifer species will require only 200 rings to achieve the same results as with 300 rings. 

Funding: National Science Foundation 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course