Geoscience Reference
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Fig. 10.5 A scanning electron micrograph by Dee Breger ( 2003 ) , illustrating the annual growth
rings from a Siberian pine ( Pinus sibirica Du Tour) from AD 535 to 539, including the corrupted
latewood during the extraordinary growing season freeze event of 536 (i.e., frost ring; D'Arrigo
et al. 2001 ) . The 536 event has been linked to an atmospheric dust veil arising from a massive
volcanic eruption or extraterrestrial impact event and had global-scale climatic and societal effects
(Baillie 1999 )
mortality (Baillie 1999 ; Keys 1999 ) . D'Arrigo et al. ( 2001 ) found severe frost dam-
age in the rings of Siberian pine from Mongolia for AD 536 (Fig. 10.5 ) , which
was associated with documentary references to the attenuation of starlight, summer
frost, crop failure, and famine in northern China from AD 536 to 537. The causes of
the extraordinarily cold conditions during the mid-sixth century remain unclear, but
they do appear to have occurred at the global scale and had severe societal impacts.
Brunstein ( 1995 , 1996 ) significantly expanded the bristlecone pine frost-ring
record for the Rocky Mountains and described the 'near extinction' of large animals
on the High Plains of Colorado and Wyoming during the catastrophic winters of
AD 1842-1845, which caused hunger and sickness among the southern Cheyenne.
Stahle ( 1990 ) described the synoptic climatology and social impacts of the spring
freeze events recorded by post oak frost rings from the southern Great Plains, includ-
ing the epic spring cold wave of 1828: record-setting winter warmth was followed
by an arctic outbreak of subfreezing temperatures in April that damaged fruit trees
and crops across much of the eastern United States (Ludlum 1968 ; Mock et al.
2007 ) . St George and Nielsen ( 2000 ) used the frequency of 'flood rings' in bur oak
to estimate high-magnitude floods on the Red River in Manitoba. The most extreme
flood ring in the 500-year record occurred in 1826, when the largest known flood in
the history of the region nearly wiped out the Red River Settlement. The recurrence
 
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