Chilean Tree Ring Chronology from 424 to 21 BCE

Tree ring width measurements from Chile provide a 445-year climate proxy record ending 21 years before the present era. The data is archived by NOAA's World Data Service for Paleoclimatology as part of the International Tree-Ring Data Bank. This study, authored by Lamarche, was published in 1971.

Use Cases

• Reconstruct past temperature or precipitation anomalies in Chile using annual tree-ring width as a proxy.
• Calibrate radiocarbon dating or other chronological methods by cross-referencing this dendrochronological series.
• Analyze the frequency of climatic extremes (e.g., droughts) within the 445-year record for the El Asiento site.
• Compare this Southern Hemisphere tree-ring chronology with Northern Hemisphere records to study global climate teleconnections.

Strengths

• Covers a continuous 445-year period from 424 to 21 BCE.
• Part of the authoritative International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) curated by NOAA/NCEI.

Limitations

• The dataset is temporally stale, with a last update date of 1971, indicating it may not reflect modern analytical standards.
• Specific sample size, replication statistics, and measurement parameters are unknown without accessing full metadata.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) World Data Service for Paleoclimatology.

Collection Method

Tree ring core samples analyzed to produce a width chronology.

Time Range

424 to -21 calendar years BP (Before Present, where present=1950), equivalent to 424 BCE to 21 BCE.

Freshness

1971-01-01

Geography

Chile, specific location details are within the study metadata (El Asiento - AUCH).