California tree ring dating app


A well-known study involved bristlecone pine trees in California’s White Mountains, but others have employed oak trees in south Germany and pine trees from Northern Ireland. Linear sequences of rings are obtained by cross-matching tree ring patterns from living trees and those from older dead wood. Overlapping and correlating rings have been used to produce “chronologies” of past years. However, some trees do not produce annual rings at all, especially those in temperate or tropical regions. A ring typically consists of a light-colored growth portion and a dark-colored portion produced in a stabilization season. Under normal circumstances, woody trees add one ring per year. The giant sequoia trees of California are known to live over 3,000 years, discerned through tree ring dating. Several species of trees live almost indefinitely.