Methuselah

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Methuselah (English or Hebrew for Methuselah ) is the name of a long-lived pine ( Pinus longaeva ) that grows in the Inyo National Forest in the highest region of the White Mountains between Nevada and Death Valley at an altitude of over 3000  m . She was examined by Edmund Schulman , a scientist from the University of Arizona , who in his report published in 1958 puts her age at 4723 years. It was therefore the oldest living tree until 2012. Another long-lived pine called Prometheus , which was felled in 1964 by geography student Donald Rusk Currey , was only recognized to be 4862 years old after the annual rings had been cut off and then counted . The pines were used to create the dendrochronological time series called the Bristlecone-Pines Chronology . It is used today to calibrate the radiocarbon dating .

Methuselah Walk at Methuselah Grove

The Methuselah Walk is an approx. 6.8 km long circular route that starts and ends at the Visitor Center in Schulman Grove. It can be reached from Big Pine in the Owens Valley . There are 25 marked stations along this path, at which the visitor is explained the most varied aspects of this impressive ecosystem using the brochure available at the Visitor Center . Station 15 describes the Methuselah Grove. There are several trees here that are over 4,000 years old. Methuselah itself is also in the immediate vicinity, but is not marked for his safety. There is a mandatory route to protect the soil and vegetation. Therefore, only the position of the forest area, but the individual tree can not be specified: 37 ° 23 '  N , 118 ° 11'  W .

On September 4, 2008, the visitor center of the Methuselah Walk and some of the trees at the edge of the grove were destroyed in a forest fire. A new building opened in 2012.

Methuselah has not been the record holder since 2012. A core sample that Edmund Schulman had taken in the late 1950s but never evaluated was examined for the first time. The tree from which the sample was taken is known and alive; the dating showed an age of 5065 years, converted to the year 2015. This tree is also in the White Mountains, its exact position is not published.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Recreation.gov: Schulman Grove Visitor Center
  2. ↑ Los Angeles Times: Fire claims Bristlecone Pine Forest visitor center , September 6, 2008
  3. ↑ Rocky Mountain Tree Ring Research: Database of ancient trees (January 2013)