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I wonder what percentage of the world's trees have been carbon dated. I'd bet that effectively 0% of the world's trees have been carbon dated and that there rem
by ALittleLight 7y ago
I wonder what percentage of the world's trees have been carbon dated. I'd bet that effectively 0% of the world's trees have been carbon dated and that there remain older ones out there.
- uoaei 7y ago~0% of sampled trees does not necessarily mean ~0% certainty that we have found the oldest tree, since tree ages are correlated strongly with each other in local neighborhoods. We know where to look to find "oldish" trees and then narrow our search there. No need to sample trees from a new growth forest to be reasonably certain how old they are.
- ALittleLight 7y agoSuppose there's a thousand square kilometers of new growth forest. Is every tree in that area new? What if there's a tree that substantially predates the others and is now surrounded by new growth? I'd agree that percentage tested isn't directly the same as likelihood we've found the oldest, but I do think there's a strong correlation.
- ceejayoz 7y agoCarbon dating only works on a dead organism.
- whyenot 7y agoIf you look at the trunk of a tree, almost all of it is actually dead. There is only a relative thin layer of tissue (the cambium) under the bark that is alive. The same is true for roots (with minor differences).