Interesting wood pattern with rotten wood rings.
Dendrochronology (from the Greek δένδρον "tree", χρόνος "time", and λογία "study") or tree-ring dating is the method of scientific dating based on the analysis of tree-ring growth patterns. This technique was developed during the first half of the 20th century originally by the astronomer A. E. Douglass, the founder of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona. Douglass sought to better understand cycles of sunspot activity and reasoned (correctly) that changes in solar activity would affect climate patterns on earth which would subsequently be recorded by tree-ring growth patterns (, sunspots → climate → tree rings). The technique of dendrochronology can date the tree rings in many types of wood to the exact calendar year each ring was formed. Growth rings, also referred to as tree rings or annual rings, can be seen in a horizontal cross section cut through the trunk of a tree. Growth rings are the result of new growth in the vascular cambium, a lateral meristem, and are synonymous with secondary growth. Visible rings result from the change in growth speed through the seasons of the year, thus one ring usually marks the passage of one year in the life of the tree. The rings are more visible in temperate zones, where the seasons differ more markedly. The inner portion of a growth ring is formed early in the growing season, when growth is comparatively rapid (hence the wood is less dense) and is known as "early wood" or "spring wood" or "late-spring wood". The outer portion is the "late wood" (and has sometimes been termed "summer wood", often being produced in the summer, though sometimes in the autumn) and is more dense. "Early wood" is used in preference to "spring wood", as the latter term may not correspond to that time of year in climates where early wood is formed in the early summer ( Canada) or in autumn, as in some Mediterranean species. In trees like white pines there is not much contrast in the different parts of the
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Photo credit: © Shane Phelan / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: breakdown, cracked, decay, decayed, decomposed, deterioration, disintegration, dying, eaten, festering, growth, maturate, pattern, perish, perished, post, ring, rings, rot, rotten, spiky, termitic, texture, warp, weathered, wood
