Renewal of tidal forests in Washington State after a subduction earthquake in A.D. 1700
Alaska ; Comparative study ; Dendrochronology ; Earthquake ; Estuary ; Forest ; Intertidal zone ; Palaeobiogeography ; Palaeogeography ; Spruce ; Subduction ; United States of America ; Vegetation dynamics ; Washington State
This paper presents evidence that an earthquake made such trees scarce at estuaries of westernmost Washington. Remains of dead trees and ring counts in living trees show that an A.D. 1700 earthquake reset an ecological clock by changing forests
into tidal flats. Postearthquake tides, and perhaps uplift as well, then created land on which new trees became established. Such renewal, seen also in Alaska after an earthquake in 1964, probably explains why Washington's tidal forests now contain few