Bald cypress trees over 2,000-years old have been discovered in the forested wetlands along Black River using dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. The oldest bald cypress yet documented is at least 2,624-years old, making
Radiocarbon Pretreatment Comparisons of Bald Cypress ( Taxodium Distichum ) wood samples from a massive buried deposit on the Georgia Coast, USA
ABSTRACT We sampled individual growth rings from three ancient remnant bald cypress ( Taxodium distichum ) trees from a massive buried deposit at the mouth of the Altamaha River on the Georgia Coast to determine the best technique for radiocarbon ( 14 C) dating pretreatment. The results of our comparison of traditional ABA pretreatment and holocellulose and α-cellulose fractions show no significant differences among the pretreatments (<1 sigma) thereby suggesting that ABA pretreatment will prove sufficient for the development of a high-resolution 14 C tree-ring chronology based on these ancient bald cypresses which will indicate whether the U.S. Southeast is subject to a regional radiocarbon offset.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1832178
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10132042
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Radiocarbon
- Volume:
- 61
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 0033-8222
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1755 to 1763
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Taxodium distichum the oldest-known wetland tree species, the oldest living trees in eastern North America, and the fifth oldest known non-clonal tree species on earth. The annual ring-width chronology developed from the ancient Black River bald cypress trees is positively correlated with growing season precipitation totals over the southeastern United States and with atmospheric circulation over the Northern Hemisphere, providing the longest exactly-dated climate proxy yet developed in eastern North America. The Nature Conservancy owns 6,400 ha in their Black River Preserve and the North Carolina legislature is considering establishment of a Black River State Park, but ancient forested wetlands are found along most of this 106 km stream and remain threatened by logging, water pollution, and sea level rise. -
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2019.121
