The light and dark rings of a tree. These rings can tell us how old the tree is, and what the weather was like during each year of the trees life. The light-colored rings represent wood that grew in the spring and early summer, while the dark rings represent wood that grew in the late summer and fall.
What do tree rings tell us?
What do tree rings tell us. The underlying patterns of wide or narrow rings record the year-to-year fluctuations in the growth of trees. The patterns, therefore, often contain a weather history at the location the tree grew, in addition to its age.
Tree rings form in the trunk of a tree from new cells generated in the cambium, the meristem (growing point) that lies just beneath the trees bark. Later in the growing season when heat and drought conditions become more prevalent, cell growth slows down and the wood becomes more dense.
What are tree rings made of?
Xylem = Wood. Annual rings consist of springwood (earlywood) – the lighter appearing ring made up of larger, thin-walled cells, AND summerwood (latewood) – the darker appearing ring made up of small, thicker-walled cells.