Thanks ETL and Inyo-Mono. Near the onetime geographical center of the Sahara there was a living olive tree. Didn't look all that vivacious, but was still alive. And it's a cultivated species.
Posted on 06/01/2015 7:22:29 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The tallest redwood tree in Muir Woods — a giant that was assumed to have sprouted up to 1,500 years ago in the Middle Ages — is a measly 777 years old, a puerile sprig in the hallowed halls of old growth, an analysis of tree-ring data has revealed.
The study, by a Humboldt State University scientist, is the first definitive determination of the age of trees in Muir Woods. The findings by Allyson Carroll, a tree-ring specialist, mean that a 249-foot-tall coast redwood known by the lackluster name of Tree 76 sprouted seven centuries later than originally believed, at the beginning of the Medieval Inquisition in the early 13th century.
The new birth date is curiously apropos since the tree is in a place called Cathedral Grove, presumably acceptable under the Inquisition, which was characterized by an effort by the Catholic Church to suppress heresy. The date nevertheless means the oldest and biggest tree that researchers could find in the Bay Area’s most famous redwood forest is a babe in the woods compared with the giant old-growth trees farther north.
“It’s one of the largest redwoods in Muir Woods, so it probably represents one of the oldest,” said Emily Burns, science director for San Francisco’s Save the Redwoods League, which is documenting the age, size, health and tree-ring history of California's last remaining old-growth redwood groves as part a statewide project known as the Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative.
Carroll, a biologist at Humboldt State and a consultant for the League, came up with 777 years by comparing the tree rings from Tree 76 to a database of core samples taken from redwoods across California, including from Samuel P. Taylor State Park.
Specific dates can be fleshed out by comparing the size and thickness of the tree rings, which
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
“Bob, let me introduce you to Allyson Carroll. She’s a tree-ring specialist.”
“Nice to make your acquaintance, Allyson. What do yo do for a living?”
“I study tree rings.”
“Um....see ya ‘round.”
Bob’s not too bright, huh? Not interested in the world around him. Or is he just intimidated by smart women?
Re: “This 9,550-year-old Spruce tree is the oldest single tree in the world.”
Any relations? Could be your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather. :/
Our chief weapon is fear.
Fear and surprise...
Poke him with the soft cushion!
Thanks ETL and Inyo-Mono. Near the onetime geographical center of the Sahara there was a living olive tree. Didn't look all that vivacious, but was still alive. And it's a cultivated species.
[snip] A well-preserved juniper post, painted blue and with modern door hinges, was recovered from a modern village house simply because it looked suspiciously old. The sample we were given did not fit anything in our Neolithic inventory, so we sent a piece of it to Heidelberg to see what radiocarbon analysis would reveal. The date is 2117 B.C. + 110 years, which means it is from some Early Bronze Age occupation near the lake at Kastoria. (Kuniholm 1998, 4) [Q3: Do the results from the developing dendrochronology for Anatolia agree or disagree with CoD?]
You’re welcome. I don’t know very much about the subject myself. I’m more at home with the hard sciences (physics, geology, astronomy) than the life sciences.
NOT the soft cushion!
Lest you forget
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
