Radiocarbon Analysis Confirms the Annual Nature of Sagebrush Growth Rings

摘要: In the Great Basin of North America, big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) growth rings can be used to reconstruct environmental changes with annual resolution in areas where there is otherwise little such information available. We tested nature wood layers using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. Four cross-sections from 3 plants were collected near Ely, Nevada, USA, and analyzed dendrochronological methods. Ten 14C measurements then trace location 1963-64 "bomb spike." Although number on each section did not exceed 60, crossdating was possible within a between sections. Years assigned individual by means aligned their expected values, matching peak. This result confirmed formed sagebrush, will facilitate development spa- tially explicit, well-replicated proxy records change, as wildfire regimes, valleys.