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?
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.
Incredible, thanks for the explanation!
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.
any idea how they dated it?
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.
wikipedia says old Tjikko was carbon 14 dated.
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.
Only 1000 more till it reaches cactaur status!
🤯
Will fight your grandpa for last slice then post on TikTok for likes from tweens
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