Tree Dating Lab

Tree Dating Lab

Follow the link below to begin your lab experience.

http://scied.ucar.edu/tree-ring-interactive

While this lab is located in the climatology section, we will be studying dendrochronology and the ability to determine historical climates through the study of tree ring patterns. Follow the directions as provided on the website; you will be completing the Level 1 (Moisture) and Level 2 (Temperature) exercises. In your introduction, you will discuss the climatic factors that affect tree ring growth and why this data might be important. The M&M will simply explain the observation of the tree rings and how a historic model is constructed. Your R&C will include screenshots of your final tree cross-sections from Levels 1 and 2. You will see as you build your tree rings that a score is tallied in the upper righthand corner (+100 for correct matches and -30 for incorrect matches), if you choose an incorrect option, make note of the mistake and how the error was corrected. Explain in your R&C why the interpretation of tree rings might be very difficult.

See “Lab Report Format” document in Assignments for further instructions on writing a formal lab report.