Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T15:29:58.952Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon dating of Chinese Ancient Tea Trees

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2019

Jia Chen ,
Hongtao Shen Open the ORCID record for Hongtao Shen [Opens in a new window] ,
Kimikazu Sasa ,
Haihui Lan ,
Tetsuya Matsunaka Open the ORCID record for Tetsuya Matsunaka [Opens in a new window] ,
Masumi Matsumura ,
Tsutomu Takahashi ,
Seiji Hosoya ,
Ming He  and
Yun He
...Show all authors
Jia Chen
Affiliation:
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China Guangxi Institute of Tea Science and Research, Guilin 541004, China
Hongtao Shen*
Affiliation:
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan China Institute of Atomic Energy, P.O. Box 275(50), Beijing 102413, China
Kimikazu Sasa*
Affiliation:
University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan
Haihui Lan
Affiliation:
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China
Tetsuya Matsunaka
Affiliation:
University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan Kanazawa University, Ishikawa 923-1224, Japan
Masumi Matsumura
Affiliation:
University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan
Tsutomu Takahashi
Affiliation:
University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan
Seiji Hosoya
Affiliation:
University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan
Ming He
Affiliation:
China Institute of Atomic Energy, P.O. Box 275(50), Beijing 102413, China
Yun He
Affiliation:
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China
Zhaomei Li
Affiliation:
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China
Zhenchi Zhao
Affiliation:
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China
Mingji Liu
Affiliation:
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China
Siyu Wei
Affiliation:
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China
Mingli Qi
Affiliation:
Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China
Qingzhang Zhao
Affiliation:
China Institute of Atomic Energy, P.O. Box 275(50), Beijing 102413, China
Xiuju Qin
Affiliation:
Guangxi Luyi Institute of Tea Science and Research, Guilin 541004, China
Xinqiang Chen
Affiliation:
Guangxi Luyi Institute of Tea Science and Research, Guilin 541004, China
Shan Jiang
Affiliation:
China Institute of Atomic Energy, P.O. Box 275(50), Beijing 102413, China
*
*Corresponding authors. Emails: shenht@gxnu.edu.cn; ksasa@tac.tsukuba.ac.jp.
*Corresponding authors. Emails: shenht@gxnu.edu.cn; ksasa@tac.tsukuba.ac.jp.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The jungles of Linyun and Longlin Autonomous Prefecture, located in the heart of the southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China, are home to the oldest tea trees (Camellia sinensis) in the world. In the absence of regular annual rings, radiocarbon (14C) dating is one of the most powerful tools that can assist in the determination of the ages and growth rates of these plants. In this work, cores were extracted from large ancient tea trees in a central Longlin rain forest; extraction of carbon was performed with an automated sample preparation system. The 14C levels in the tree cores were measured using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) at the University of Tsukuba. These measurements indicated that contrary to conventional views, the ages of trees in these forests range up to ~700 years, and the growth rate of this species is notably slow, exhibiting a long-term radial growth rate of 0.039±0.006 cm/yr. It was demonstrated that 14C analyses provide accurate determination of ages and growth rates for subtropical wild tea trees.

Keywords

AgeAMSAncient tea trees14CCamellia sinensis
Type
Conference Paper
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 6: Radiocarbon 2018 Conference Proceedings Trondheim, Norway, June 17–22, 2018 Part 2 of 2 , December 2019 , pp. 1741 - 1748
Copyright
© 2019 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 23rd International Radiocarbon Conference, Trondheim, Norway, 17–22 June, 2018

References

REFERENCES

Bazzaz, FA, Chiarlello, NR, Coley, PD, Pitelka, LF.1987. Allocating resource to reproduction and defense. BioScience 37:58–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, JQ, Higuchi, N, Schimel, JP. 1998. Ancient trees in Amazonia. Nature 391:135–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, G. 1994. Tea tree age determination method. Taiwan Agricultural Research 2(1):40. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Chen, Z, Chen, P. 2007. The rich ancient tea tree resources are the best proof for the origin of the world tea tree. Agricultural Archaeology 5:257–267.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, Y, Regev, L, Kerem, Z, Boaretto, E. 2017. Radiocarbon dating of an olive tree cross-section: New insights on growth patterns and implications for age estimation of olive trees. Frontiers in Plant Science 8:1918.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enquist, BJ, West, GB, Charnov, EL, Brown, JH. 1999. Allometric scaling of production and life-history variation on vascular plants. Nature 401:907–911.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kato, K, Tokanai, F, Anshita, M, Sakurai, H, Ohashi, MS. 2014. Automated sample combustion and CO2 collection system with IRMS for 14C AMS in Yamagata University, Japan. Radiocarbon 56:327–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loader, NJ, Walsh, RPD, Robertson, I, Bidin, K, Ong, RC, Reynolds, G, McCarroll, D, Gagen, M, Young, GHF. 2011. Recent trends in the intrinsic water-use efficiency of ringless rainforest trees in Borneo. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366(1582): 3330–3339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matsunaka, T, Sasa, K, Hosoya, S, Shen, H, Takahashi, T, Matsumura, M, Sueki, K. 2019. Radiocarbon measurement using a gas/solid hybrid ion source and an automated sample preparation system at the University of Tsukuba. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 204–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mook, WG, van der Plicht, J. 1999. Reporting 14C activities and concentrations. Radiocarbon 41:227–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patrut, A, Karl, F, Van Pelt, R, Mayne, DH, Lowy, DA, Margineanu, D. 2011. Age determination of large live trees with inner cavities: radiocarbon dating of Platland tree, a giant African baobab. Annals of Forest Science 68(5):993–1003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, S, Hua, Q, Allen, K, Bowman, DM. 2011. Validating putatively cross-dated Callitris tree-ring chronologies using bomb-pulse radiocarbon analysis. Australian Journal of Botany 59(1): 7–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poussart, PM, Myneni, SCB, Lanzirotti, A. 2006. Tropical dendrochemistry: A novel approach to estimate age and growth from ringless trees. Geophysical Research Letters 33(17).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsey, BC. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1):337–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Ramsey, BC, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, et al. (2013). IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sasa, K, Takahashi, T, Matsumura, M, Matsunaka, T, Satou, Y, Izumi, D, Sueki, K. 2015. The new 6 MV multi-nuclide AMS facility at the University of Tsukuba. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 361:124–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, H, Sasa, K, Meng, Q, Matsumura, M, Masunaka, T, Hosoya, S, Takahashi, T, Honda, M, Sueki, K, He, M, et al. 2019a. Exposure age dating of Chinese tiankengs by 36Cl-AMS. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 459: 29–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, H, Sasa, K, Matsumura, M, Meng, Q, Masunaka, T, Hosoya, S, Takahashi, T, Honda, M, Sueki, K, He, M, et al. 2019b. 36Cl preparation method for Chinese Karst samples (Tiankeng). Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 458:126–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Beck, JW, Burr, GS, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, van der Plicht, J, Spurk, M. 1998. IntCal98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40:1041–1084.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vieira, S, Trumbore, S, Camargo, PB, Selhorst, D, Chambers, JQ, Higuchi, N, Martinelli, LA. 2005. Slow growth rates of Amazonian trees: consequences for carbon cycling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 102:18502–18507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wei, H, Liu, S, Wang, L, Huang, M. 2015. Analysis on distribution characteristics of precipitation in Lingyun County in 50 years. Journal of Meteorological Research and Application 21:72–73. In ChineseGoogle Scholar
Xu, WZ. 2008. The “Jingxiu” ancient tea tree. Private Technology 8(1):207. In ChineseGoogle Scholar