Sapwood
Definition
The outer living wood of a tree, typically lighter in colour than the dark heartwood. Species have characteristic sapwood ring counts (a range). If sapwood is present on a timber, the felling date can be estimated from the number of sapwood rings remaining. If bark is present, felling is exactly dated.
Related terms
- Annual ring
- A single year's growth increment visible as a concentric band in a transverse wood section. In most temperate trees, each ring consists...
- Crossdating
- The matching of ring-width patterns between two or more samples to determine their relative or absolute temporal relationship. The master method of...
- Floating chronology
- A ring-width sequence whose pattern is internally consistent but whose absolute calendar position is unknown because it cannot yet be crossdated to...
- Master chronology
- A continuous, absolutely dated ring-width sequence built by overlapping many individual samples, living trees linked to old timbers and subfossil wood. Regional...
- Missing ring
- A year in which growth was so suppressed, by extreme drought, frost, or injury, that no visible ring was deposited. Missing rings...
Explained in
- Dendrochronology and Forensic Timber AnalysisThe outer living wood of a tree, typically lighter in colour than the dark heartwood. Species have characteristic sapwood ring counts (a range). If sapwood is...