Bristlecone Pine Trees: Evidence for a Young Earth?
by Owen Borville
Trees are commonly known as the some of the oldest living things on Earth and have been determined to age into the thousands of years. Could the age of today’s oldest living trees give evidence of the Genesis Flood and the young Earth? Creationists have postulated that trees could give evidence of a young earth by examining their annual growth ring age compared to other trees and to the proposed date of the Genesis Flood. Whitcomb and Morris (1) explain that the bristlecone pine trees of the California White Mountains, the oldest known trees, are found to be more than 4,600 years old and several others have been found nearby to be over 4,000 years old. The bristlecone pine includes three species of pine trees, all three of which live long ages and are very resistant to harsh weather and bad soils, particularly in high-elevation and arid environments where other plants have trouble growing.
Most of these trees are younger than the proposed date of the Genesis Flood, so one should ask why these oldest trees suddenly appear at this age unless the global flood occurred shortly before their growth. In other words, no living trees have been found that are older than the global Genesis Flood, which occurred less than 5,000 years ago according to Biblical chronology. Tree-ring age counting, or dendrochronology, does not require cutting the whole tree, as a borehole can be made into the tree which will reveal the rings without killing the tree. The oldest living tree known to exist by tree-ring dating is known as "Methusalah," a 4,840-plus year-old bristlecone pine tree.
Tree-ring dating ages can also be difficult to determine because distinct growth layers are sometimes hard to distinguish. In addition, a growth ring may not always indicate one calendar year because of varying climatic conditions where extremely dry or wet seasons can alter the production of growth rings. Therefore, in dry seasons there may not be a growth ring or in an extremely wet season there could be more than one growth ring. This ambiguity can give a slightly inaccurate tree-ring age of a particular sample. The ages of the oldest bristlecone pine trees could be slightly overestimated because of these ambiguities. However, tree-ring dating is known to be fairly accurate.
Scientists have claimed to have recently found living trees significantly older than the bristlecone pine tree, but these were dated using carbon-14 methods, which in contrast to tree-ring dating have questionable accuracy according to creationists and tend to significantly overestimate the true age. Scientists announced the finding of a "9,550 year-old" spruce tree in Sweden in 2008, however this age was determined by carbon-14 dating. Therefore, the oldest living things using tree-ring or growth ring age dating continue to be the bristlecone pine trees of California, Nevada, and Utah between 4,500 to 5,000 years old, which is compatible with the creationist time scale and the Genesis Flood.
Evolutionists believe that the first trees appeared on Earth 385 million years ago, near the end of the Devonian period of the uniformitarian time scale. So why are all of the oldest living trees on Earth measured with tree-ring dating determined to be between 4,500 and 5,000 years in age and none older? The likely answer is that these trees began to grow about 4,500 to 4,600 years ago after the Genesis Flood, which was global in scale and wiped out all life on land.
(1) Whitcomb, J. C., & Morris, H. M. (1961). The Genesis Flood: The Biblical record and its scientific implications. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co. (Page 392).
by Owen Borville
Trees are commonly known as the some of the oldest living things on Earth and have been determined to age into the thousands of years. Could the age of today’s oldest living trees give evidence of the Genesis Flood and the young Earth? Creationists have postulated that trees could give evidence of a young earth by examining their annual growth ring age compared to other trees and to the proposed date of the Genesis Flood. Whitcomb and Morris (1) explain that the bristlecone pine trees of the California White Mountains, the oldest known trees, are found to be more than 4,600 years old and several others have been found nearby to be over 4,000 years old. The bristlecone pine includes three species of pine trees, all three of which live long ages and are very resistant to harsh weather and bad soils, particularly in high-elevation and arid environments where other plants have trouble growing.
Most of these trees are younger than the proposed date of the Genesis Flood, so one should ask why these oldest trees suddenly appear at this age unless the global flood occurred shortly before their growth. In other words, no living trees have been found that are older than the global Genesis Flood, which occurred less than 5,000 years ago according to Biblical chronology. Tree-ring age counting, or dendrochronology, does not require cutting the whole tree, as a borehole can be made into the tree which will reveal the rings without killing the tree. The oldest living tree known to exist by tree-ring dating is known as "Methusalah," a 4,840-plus year-old bristlecone pine tree.
Tree-ring dating ages can also be difficult to determine because distinct growth layers are sometimes hard to distinguish. In addition, a growth ring may not always indicate one calendar year because of varying climatic conditions where extremely dry or wet seasons can alter the production of growth rings. Therefore, in dry seasons there may not be a growth ring or in an extremely wet season there could be more than one growth ring. This ambiguity can give a slightly inaccurate tree-ring age of a particular sample. The ages of the oldest bristlecone pine trees could be slightly overestimated because of these ambiguities. However, tree-ring dating is known to be fairly accurate.
Scientists have claimed to have recently found living trees significantly older than the bristlecone pine tree, but these were dated using carbon-14 methods, which in contrast to tree-ring dating have questionable accuracy according to creationists and tend to significantly overestimate the true age. Scientists announced the finding of a "9,550 year-old" spruce tree in Sweden in 2008, however this age was determined by carbon-14 dating. Therefore, the oldest living things using tree-ring or growth ring age dating continue to be the bristlecone pine trees of California, Nevada, and Utah between 4,500 to 5,000 years old, which is compatible with the creationist time scale and the Genesis Flood.
Evolutionists believe that the first trees appeared on Earth 385 million years ago, near the end of the Devonian period of the uniformitarian time scale. So why are all of the oldest living trees on Earth measured with tree-ring dating determined to be between 4,500 and 5,000 years in age and none older? The likely answer is that these trees began to grow about 4,500 to 4,600 years ago after the Genesis Flood, which was global in scale and wiped out all life on land.
(1) Whitcomb, J. C., & Morris, H. M. (1961). The Genesis Flood: The Biblical record and its scientific implications. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co. (Page 392).
