Re: Specimen Ridge Trees (was Uniformitarianism)

Arthur V. Chadwick (chadwicka@swac.edu)
Tue, 17 Feb 1998 10:10:43 -0800

At 07:17 PM 2/16/98 -0600, Glenn Morton wrote:
>I have read both Arct's master's thesis and his dissertation. I have several
>problems with the data he presented. He claimed to have found the same
>signature in the rings of fossil trees at Specimen Ridge on several
>different levels. For those who don't know, a signature is a unique pattern
>of ring thicknesses which should represent a unique set of climatologic
>stresses on the trees. If true, this would rule out the view that the trees
>grew in place and were covered by volcanic ash. It would be unlikely that
>the same unique pattern of climatologic events would occur in successive
>forests.
>
>Here are the issues I have with what he has done. First his signature
>series is too short and he admits it.

Good that you have read his stuff. Then you should know what a careful and
conservative worker he is. It took him ten years to ask his wife to marry
him! If Mike says something is so, it is, never fear. While you did
isolate quotes from his thesis, you did neglect to convey his conclusions,
namely that the trees did match and that they were contemporaneous, and
that they were from different layers. When he presented his data at
national meetings and at the Treering Lab at Arizona, none of the other
dendrochronologists expressed doubt that the trees were indeed
contemporaneous, although some doubted any trees could have matched so
well, and suggested facetiously that they all must have come from the same
tree! They were if anything, jealous that he had such consistent wood to
work with, since most of the matches dendrochronologists work with are
considerably less secure than his. If you like, I will bring a slide
comparing 5 of the trees next time we meet, and you can judge for yourself.
You would have to deny your senses and dendrochrononlogy as a science to
deny the match in those rings.

Art
http://chadwicka.swau.edu