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Spring Water Levels Reconstructed from Ice-Scarred Trees and Cross-Sectional Area of the Earlywood Vessels in Tree Rings from Eastern Boreal Canada

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Tree Rings and Natural Hazards

Part of the book series: Advances in Global Change Research ((AGLO,volume 41))

Abstract

Ice floods occurring at the time of spring break-up were reconstructed for Lake Duparquet, a large unregulated water body located at the southern fringe of the boreal forest in north-western Quebec (Tardif and Bergeron 1997). Reconstruction of the frequency and magnitude of spring floods associated with ice break-up was successfully achieved using cross-dating of ice-scars occurring along the trunk of northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis) trees exposed to drifting ice and debris during ice break-up. Maximum ice-scar height was also used as an indicator of high lake water level. Ice-scarred trees were systematically sampled on the islands and lake shore. A total of 81 T. occidentalis trees were collected resulting in 253 cross-sections and over 2,000 dated scars associated with 616 scarring events.

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Correspondence to Jacques C. Tardif .

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Tardif, J.C., Kames, S., Bergeron, Y. (2010). Spring Water Levels Reconstructed from Ice-Scarred Trees and Cross-Sectional Area of the Earlywood Vessels in Tree Rings from Eastern Boreal Canada. In: Stoffel, M., Bollschweiler, M., Butler, D., Luckman, B. (eds) Tree Rings and Natural Hazards. Advances in Global Change Research, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8736-2_24

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