Do the rings on a tree's base really tell you its age?

Question

Do the rings on a tree's base really tell you its age?

Answer 1

Yes

Answer 2

You can indeed use the tree's rings to determine age. You can also tell if the tree was under stress during any particular point in its life. If there is a section in which rings are very close together and on either side of this section the rings are spaced further apart you can tell that the tree grew slower in the time period in which the rings are closer together and as such was under some type of environmental stress. This does not work well for the outer rings of very old trees due to the fact that as trees grow older they naturally grow more slowly. There are actually individuals who study old fallen cypress trees in the South Eastern United States. They will take an increment bore of an older living tree to determine its age and then take one of an even older fallen tree. They will then match a common occurring series of rings in the two trees. This allows them to have a rough idea of the fallen trees age. They can then look for stresses in the rings and make estimations as to hurricane severity, drought, and other meteorological phenomena that occurred hundreds of years ago.

Please note however that trees that grow along the equator grow differently than trees in the northern or southern hemispheres(due to seasonal differences) and as such do not produce rings in the same manner and as such you cannot accurately determine age by counting rings.

Answer 3

Yes

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_sci...

Answer 4

yHup....

and they are called annuaL riNgs...

Answer 5

yes and they can even tell you if that area had a lot of water or a fire. It can tell you alot

Answer 6

Yeah