Use of oxygen isotopes in dendrochronology for interspecies dating of historical wood: international experience

Although dendrochronology is a relatively effective dating method, it has several limitations which sometimes hamper establishing reliable dates. Rapid or unrestricted tree growth may lead to invariant time series which do not have significant cross-correlation and thus cannot be dated dendrochronologically. An effective way to accurately date the growth of such trees in humid temperate regions (where growth is not controlled by climate) is the recently developed method of dating wood by stable oxygen isotopes. It is based on measuring isotope ratios in the cellulose of late tree-ring wood and their objective comparison with master oxygen isotope chronology of the already known age. Research aimed at establishing cross-species isotope coherence in non-oak trees with a particular focus on its application to dating historic buildings and artefacts in Northwest Europe was conducted in the UK in 2021. Scientists compared samples of living and historic wood of known and unknown ages with master oak chronology built across the south- central UK; their coherence and dating capacity was assessed by using master isotope chronology. As a result, 14 out of 16 samples were successfully dated, which in turn indicates a great capacity for further application and development of that method. Despite the fact that effectiveness of isotope analysis in dendrochronology has been presently proven only for broad-leaved forests of the temperate-marine climatic zone, apparently, this method should also work in the continental climate zone including Western Siberia.