Hydrologic inferences from ring widths of flood-damaged trees, Potomac River, Maryland

The work reported here is part of a larger study on flood-induced anatomical changes and their relationship to flood frequency and the hydraulic geometry of stream channels, seen as a useful technique of determining flood frequencies and magnitudes on ungauged streams . The year-to-year variability in ring widths appears to be related to differences in flood-flow regimes, in that trees directly exposed to high flood velocities are damaged more often than sheltered trees and thus exhibit more variable ring-width patterns.