this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2024
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Science Memes

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fighting the elderly (mander.xyz)
submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 41 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Silly question but what would it look like if you cut the tree? Would it have so many rings that it's essentially a solid color? Do trees stop growing rings at a certain point?

[–] [email protected] 63 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

i was there this summer! it's not this particular trunk that's 9000+ years old, but rather the entire organism. the current largest trunk is a few hundred years old, but the ground cover is older and the root system is how they figured out the total age.

fun fact, the largest organism ever recorded is also a tree. it's called pando and has 46000 stems stretching over 40ish hectares. it's basically a forest of clones.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

My coworkers on the mountain always thought it was wild when I told them there was a decent chance the aspen glade we were in was all one tree.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

any idea how they dated it?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

wikipedia says old Tjikko was carbon 14 dated.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 days ago

Movie first, Saturday afternoon. Next it was a dinner date, and then board game night with her friends. You know, to make sure everyone is compatible.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago

Incredible, thanks for the explanation!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

This type of spruce produces needles instead of rings. So there are 9,000+ needles on the tree, and they add on a hundred or so years to account for people picking them off in passing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

Only 1000 more till it reaches cactaur status!