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Tree rings record 100 years of hydrologic change within a wetland

Fact Sheet 057-97
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/fs05797

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Abstract

One of the primary responsibilities of the Water Resources Division of the United States Geological Survey is to monitor the amount and quality of waters in our rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Hydrologists can evaluate these important resources in the present day, but how can they determine what conditions were like in past decades or even centuries? Moreover, are conditions part of a natural cycle or caused primarily by human activities? It is sometimes possible to answer these questions by examining the annual growth rings of trees. Each ring can be assigned an exact year of formation, and yearly differences in ring widths can be used to compare past and present conditions on a flood plain, along a river, or within a wetland. Thus, tree rings provide information that otherwise might be difficult or even impossible to obtain.

Hydrology and tree growth were investigated within a small wetland in the Tully Valley of central New York, about 20 miles south of Syracuse. In late 1994 it was noted that some wetland trees were dying, and local residents reported that flow of a small stream draining the wetland seemingly increased and became more brackish since the mid to late 1980s. The wetland is about 3 miles north of an extensive salt mining operation known to have degraded local water quality, but no effects of mining had been confirmed previously near the wetland. The oldest wetland trees started to grow before the onset of mining in 1889, and thus tree-ring studies were undertaken not only to investi-gate recent hydrologic change within the wetland, but also to search for evidence of any other changes during the last 100 years.

Suggested Citation

Yanosky, T.M., and Kappel, W.M., 1997, Tree rings record 100 years of hydrologic change within a wetland: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 1997–0057, 4 p., https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/fs05797.

ISSN: 2327-6932 (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Abstract
  • What are Tree Rings?
  • Introduction
  • The Wetland
  • History of Solution-Brine Mining
  • Tree-Ring Analyses
  • Tree Growth
  • Conclusions
  • Additional Reading
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Tree rings record 100 years of hydrologic change within a wetland
Series title Fact Sheet
Series number 057-97
DOI 10.3133/fs05797
Year Published 1997
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) New York Water Science Center
Description 4 p.
Country United States
State New York
Other Geospatial Tully Valley
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details