Giant sequoias yield longest fire history from tree rings
Thursday, March 18, 2010 - 09:36
in Paleontology & Archaeology
A 3,000-year record from 52 of the world's oldest trees shows that California's western Sierra Nevada was droughty and often fiery from 800 to 1300, according to new research. Scientists reconstructed the region's history of fire by dating fire scars on ancient giant sequoia trees, Sequoiadendron giganteum, in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park. Individual giant sequoias can live more than 3,000 years and are considered the world's largest trees by volume.