Editing 2847: Dendrochronology
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
+ | {{incomplete|Created by TOM BOMBADIL'S ARCH NEMESIS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
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{{w|Dendrochronology}} is a scientific method of using tree rings to tell the age of a tree and learn about historical climate from features found in each ring. It's based on the fact that trees add a new ring each year, so counting the rings will tell a tree's age in years. Additionally, climate and ecology affect the size and composition of each year's ring, so scientists can use rings to estimate what conditions were like each year. They can cross-compare tree-ring samples from overlapping date ranges, of comparable trees grown and felled at different times, to build up and confirm a useful ring history well beyond that of a single tree. | {{w|Dendrochronology}} is a scientific method of using tree rings to tell the age of a tree and learn about historical climate from features found in each ring. It's based on the fact that trees add a new ring each year, so counting the rings will tell a tree's age in years. Additionally, climate and ecology affect the size and composition of each year's ring, so scientists can use rings to estimate what conditions were like each year. They can cross-compare tree-ring samples from overlapping date ranges, of comparable trees grown and felled at different times, to build up and confirm a useful ring history well beyond that of a single tree. | ||
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The title text says that anomalous years like this are called 'Miyake events', after a scientist named Miyake who discovered them (and was subsequently eaten by the trees, similar to the origin of {{w|Thagomizer}}). In actual fact, a {{w|Miyake event}} is a period when a larger-than-normal quantity of certain isotopes are created by cosmic rays, possibly due to [https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11063 extreme solar flares]. Evidence of these events can often be found in ancient tree rings, as physicist Fusa Miyake discovered when investigating tree rings from years 774-775. However, she wasn't then devoured by the trees – certainly not in 1635, which is centuries prior to her 2012-13 publications. | The title text says that anomalous years like this are called 'Miyake events', after a scientist named Miyake who discovered them (and was subsequently eaten by the trees, similar to the origin of {{w|Thagomizer}}). In actual fact, a {{w|Miyake event}} is a period when a larger-than-normal quantity of certain isotopes are created by cosmic rays, possibly due to [https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11063 extreme solar flares]. Evidence of these events can often be found in ancient tree rings, as physicist Fusa Miyake discovered when investigating tree rings from years 774-775. However, she wasn't then devoured by the trees – certainly not in 1635, which is centuries prior to her 2012-13 publications. | ||
− | <!-- Perhaps a ==Trivia== section? But I really wanted a nice wiki-like summary of things, anyway, falling back on Google's basic search -->A surprising number of [https://www.google.com/search?q=things+found+in+trees things can be actually found within the 'flesh' of trees], though mostly inorganic items (e.g., metal tools) that are placed and abandoned there long enough for the tree to expand its bark and woody trunk around them. Skeletal remains are more often found [https://www.google.com/search?q=human+bones+in+trees in the roots of fallen trees]. They are mostly{{Actual citation needed}} from bodies that were there before the tree started to germinate | + | <!-- Perhaps a ==Trivia== section? But I really wanted a nice wiki-like summary of things, anyway, falling back on Google's basic search -->A surprising number of [https://www.google.com/search?q=things+found+in+trees things can be actually found within the 'flesh' of trees], though mostly inorganic items (e.g., metal tools) that are placed and abandoned there long enough for the tree to expand its bark and woody trunk around them. Skeletal remains are more often found [https://www.google.com/search?q=human+bones+in+trees in the roots of fallen trees]. They are mostly{{Actual citation needed}} from bodies that were there before the tree started to germinate. Perhaps even were buried and then a tree deliberately planted to either mark or obscure the burial site. It is even possible that the young tree significantly benefits from nutrients derived from the presence of the cadaver, as certain actual {{w|carnivorous plant}}s have evolved to do, allowing it to thrive more than other saplings. But, in this case, it would not be through the plant itself pursuing a 'deliberately' carnivorous behaviour. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[A | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
+ | :[A cross section of a tree in beige, with a brown bark around the cross section and black rings throughout, except one layer around the middle where white bones are shown between two exceptionally separated ring boundaries.] | ||
:[Caption below the panel:] | :[Caption below the panel:] |