The Tree Rings’ Tale, as told by olives

As Kevin Anchukaitis put it, the Tree Rings’ Tale told by the olive tree is “Really really really really really really hard” to read. From Cherubini et al:

Dendrochronological analyses of olive trees growing on the Aegean island Santorini (Greece) show that the determination of the number of tree-rings is impossible because of intra-annual wood density fluctuations, variability in tree-ring boundary structure, and restriction of its cambial activity to shifting sectors of the circumference, causing the tree-ring sequences along radii of the same cross section to differ.

We will have to leave the olive tree to literary dating:

Good morrow, fair ones: pray you, if you know,

Where in the purlieus of this forest stands

A sheep-cote fenced about with olive trees?

2 Comments

  1. I did not know that, but it makes sense. Kind of cool that this tree still has secrets and mysteries. Thank you John!

    Best,

    D

  2. Pingback: Another Week of GW News, Feruary 3, 2013 [A Few Things Ill Considered] ← Test Blog

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