Upper forested parts of the mountain catchments are characterized by
high retention, underground run-off and non-concentrated episodic surface run-off
and they are mostly shaped during extreme events. One of the goal of the analyses
is to determine the direction of the root exposure which enables to distinguish
between erosive and tunneling processes coupled with the interflow. While perfor-
ming the dendrogeomorphological assessments of spruce roots (Picea abies L.
Karst) we are facing some methodical problems. Wedging rings and missing rings
are typical artifacts in the root structure. To eliminate the underestimations in the
tree-rings counting whole cross-sections of the roots were scanned and measured
by using the WinDENDRO and WinCELL software. The same samples were then
analyzed microscopic according to the procedure introduced by F. H. Schweingru-
ber (1991). Divergences between the results of macro- and microscopic measure-
ments indicate the need of the thin-sections of the whole cross-sections, as well as
cross-dating between the root growth series and a site chronology.