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A 9111 year long conifer tree-ring chronology for the European Alps: a base for environmental and climatic investigations

Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria, Kurt.Nicolussi{at}uibk.ac.at

M. Kaufmann

Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Thomas M. Melvin

Climate Research Unit, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK

J. van der Plicht

Center for Isotope Research, Groningen University, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands

P. Schießling

Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

A. Thurner

Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

An ultra-long tree-ring width chronology (9111 years long, 7109 BC to AD 2002) has been established based on the analysis and dating of 1432 subfossil/dry dead wood samples and cores from 335 living trees. The material was collected from treeline or near-treeline sites (c. 2000 to 2400 m a.s.l.) mainly in the Eastern Alps. The availability of preserved samples through time at high altitudinal sites is influenced by Alpine forest history and is partly climatically controlled, as shown by comparisons of the sample depth record of the Eastern Alpine Conifer Chronology (EACC) with the Holocene glacier record. The similarity of variations over time between the sample depth of the chronology and the mid-Holocene GISP2 ¹⁰Be record suggest a relationship between sample depth and solar activity. The Eastern Alpine Conifer Chronology has already been used as a dating base in environmental studies, eg, on glacier fluctuations, as well as in archaeological studies.

Key Words: Alps • Holocene • dendrochronology • radiocarbon dating • tree-ring chronology • Pinus cembra • Larix decidua • Picea abies • tree-line • solar activity.

The Holocene, Vol. 19, No. 6, 909-920 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683609336565


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