How Important Is Dendrochronology?

Dendrochronology - can be defined as “the science that uses tree rings dated to their exact year of formation to analyze temporal and spatial patterns of processes in the physical and cultural sciences.” -Dr. Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Department of Geography, The University of Tennessee

As a tree grows, it grows in diameter from the inside to the outside. The new growth for each year is added as a tree ring or growth ring. The growth during spring and early summer is more rapid and forms a lighter ring referred to as early wood. During the winter the tree grows at a slower rate and forms more of a dense, darker ring (late wood). The formation of the growth rings are dependent on several different environmental factors. This means that since the ring represents the growth of the tree for a specific year,

This could be due to pests, drought, pollution, or if it is a fruit tree saving resources to produce the fruit. There can also be rings that are pinched, have fuzzy lines, frost rings, missing rings, and fire scars.

I feel like each of these ways would take up a whole research paper on their own. I had a difficult time trying to keep this paper under two pages, but I read a statement that I thought was very interesting because it makes a tree sound like a history book that you can read to find out about the past. According to an article titled History in the Heartwood, “Dendrochronologists have documented the fall of Rome, recorded the eruption of volcanoes no one witnessed, settled a boundary dispute between Oklahoma and Texas, established the year of death of a murder victim (by the age of a root that grew over the body), indicated the strength of the 1908 Tunguska meteoroid impact that knocked over 80 million trees in Russia, dated the Stradivari Messiah violin, and provided a calibration for radiocarbon dating that literally changed