Methodological problems in dendrochronological analysis of erosional processes in mountain catchments

Bibliogr. s. 201-202

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.