I have a question. The oldest bristlecone pine tree was 4,900 years old. How can we find out that the Earth is 8,000 years old minimum from this fact? Do we have trees that have been dead for thousands of years, and we can match up events such as forest fires and droughts recorded in their rings with the events recorded in living trees?
I'm not saying the world is only a few thousand years old by any means, I'd just like this clarified.
Also, I'd like to add that layers of mud in lakes in the Eastern US record which species of trees were present at various locations, up to 15,000 years. The pollen is stored in layers, and through analysis of the pollen grains the relative distribution of each species could be determined. So that can be added to the list.
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