Santa Cruz Island Reserve

20 Aug, 05 AM - 25 Aug, 06 AM

The annual rings trees produce provides a high resolution annual record of the tree's growth and interaction with the climate. This goal of this project is to use stable isotopes in tree rings to investigate climate change in southern California during the last glacial maximum. In 1934, Chaney and Mason (A Pleistocene Flora from Santa Crua Island California, Carnegie Insitution of Washington Publication Contributions to Paaeontology no. 415) described a flora for the Island and noted there were over 20 logs on the bank of WIllow Creek. More logs were in the process of eroding out from the side of the gulch. A sample was taken, and later radiocabon dated to about 14,000 years ago (Fergusson and Libby 1963. Radiocarbon 5:1-22). My first visit would be to simply scout the place out and determine if these logs are still around. If so, and with the permission of the managers, I would like to take cross-sections of the fossil trunks. I would then analyze the rings in the trees. At the end of the project, the cross-sections would be deposited in the UC Palentology museum so that other students could use the material. This is very important, as I have visited many sites where fossil trees have been studied in the last 20-70 years but have since eroded out and washed away. If the trees are still present, they are are an important window into the climate during the last glacial maximum.

Visit #5642 @Santa Cruz Island Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 4422 | Research

Willow Creek Flora

graduate_student - University of California, Berkeley

Reservation Members(s)

Rebecca Anderson Aug 20 - 25, 2004 (6 days)

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Private Room 1 Aug 20 - 25, 2004