Soru

Passage

For decades, paleoclimatologists have relied on tree-ring widths (dendrochronology) to reconstruct past temperatures and pinpoint the timing of historic volcanic eruptions. When a major eruption occurs, volcanic aerosols block sunlight, causing a temporary global cooling that manifests as a narrow, stunted ring in trees growing at high latitudes. Proponents of this method argue that because tree rings provide annual resolution, they represent the absolute gold standard for dating historical climate shocks. However, critics point out that frost rings—which form when localized, unseasonal freezes damage tree cells—can easily be mistaken for volcanic-induced cooling rings, particularly in region-specific samples. Furthermore, studies comparing tree-ring anomalies with ice-core sulfate deposits have revealed that while tree rings consistently register local weather variations, they often fail to record high-latitude volcanic events that did not cause global cooling. Consequently, relying solely on dendrochronology to establish global volcanic timelines can lead to chronological errors.

Which of the following findings, if true, would most directly weaken the critics' argument regarding the limitations of using dendrochronology to establish global volcanic timelines?