A Tree Older than Creation?

1/5/2016

Here's a recently recycled story that has nothing to do with "Roman swords:" a re-report that the root system of a tree in Sweden has been radiocarbon dated to about 9550 years ago. I'm not sure if the age is in calendar years or radiocarbon years, but it's a pretty old tree regardless.

Apparently the tree (a spruce named "Old Tjikko" after the finder's dog) is just one of several spruces in Sweden with root systems older than 8000 years. You can add Old Tjikko and those other spruces to the ever-growing file of direct, easily-understandable evidence that the earth is more than 6000 years old, as maintained by Young Earth Creationism.

Image source.

Bob Jase

1/6/2016 05:52:36 am

The article didn't say if dendrochronology can be used on roots - do you know if it can?

Andy White

1/6/2016 06:07:13 am

Good question. Not my area of expertise, but I found this basic statement:

"Plant roots, like their above-ground counterparts, exhibit annual growth rings . . ."

(http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Dendrochronology.aspx)

I'm not sure how that work in a "clonal" organism like these spruce trees. It seems that no living part of the root system is actually 9,550 years old, but that some no-longer-living parts of the interconnected root system can be radiocarbon dated (you can't use radiocarbon dating on a living organism, anyway). This is from the Wikipedia entry for "List of Oldest Trees":

"As with all long-lived plant and fungal species, no individual part of a clonal colony is alive (in the sense of active metabolism) for more than a very small fraction of the life of the entire clone. Some clonal colonies may be fully connected via their root systems, while most are not actually interconnected, but are genetically identical clones which populated an area through vegetative reproduction."

Bob Jase

1/6/2016 08:31:18 am

Well that was never covered in my vascular plants (or any other) course. The tree was a tad younger way back then though so it may not have been generally known.

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A Tree Older than Creation?

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