EGU21-7550
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-7550
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Maximum latewood density records of Great Basin Bristlecone pine (Pinus Longaeva) from the White Mountains, California

Tom De Mil1,2, Matthew Salzer3, Charlotte Pearson3, Valerie Trouet3, and Jan Van den Bulcke1
Tom De Mil et al.
  • 1Ghent University, Department of Environment, Belgium (tom.demil@ugent.be)
  • 2University of Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Belgium
  • 3University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Great Basin Bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) is known for its longevity. The longest continuous tree-ring width chronology covers more than 9000 years. Tree-ring width of upper treeline bristlecone pine trees is influenced by summer temperature variability at decadal to centennial scales, but to infer a temperature signal on interannual scales, Maximum Latewood Density (MXD) is a better proxy. Here, we present a preliminary MXD chronology to investigate the temperature signal in upper treeline and lower elevation bristlecone pines. MXD was measured with an X-ray Computed Tomography toolchain in 24 dated cores,  with the oldest sample dating back to 776 CE. Ring and fibre angles were corrected and two MXD chronologies for different elevations were developed, which will be used to study climate-growth relationships and the effect of elevation on them. Future scanning will allow constructing a 5000+ year-long MXD chronology from upper treeline sites, which will provide an annual-resolution North American temperature record covering the mid-to-late Holocene.

How to cite: De Mil, T., Salzer, M., Pearson, C., Trouet, V., and Van den Bulcke, J.: Maximum latewood density records of Great Basin Bristlecone pine (Pinus Longaeva) from the White Mountains, California, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-7550, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-7550, 2021.

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