dendropyrochronology

dendropyrochronology

[‚den·drō‚pī·rō·krə′näl·ə·jē] (archeology) The use of tree rings to study and reconstruct the history of wild fires; for example, a low-intensity surface fire will kill a part of the living cambium on the lower portion of the tree trunk which subsequent growth will preserve, leaving a fire scar in the tree-ring record.