DENDROCLIMATIC AND DENDROHYDROLOGICAL RESPONSE OF TWO TREE SPECIES FROM GILGIT VALLEYS

Abstract

Picea smithiana and Juniperus excelsa are two tree species growing in Gilgit valleys are used to explore growth climate and growth river flow response. About 100 wood samples in the form of cores from three sites were collected. Picea smithiana from Bagrot and Haramosh (only chronologies published) and Juniperus excelsa from Nalter were sampled. A large number of Juniperus excelsa samples were rejected due to various associated problems. Crossmatched and standardized chronologies of three sites were compared with temperature, precipitation (meteorological and gridded data) and instrumental Indus river flow data. Juniperus excelsa showed strong lag year response. These species showed significant negative relationship of tree ring index with May- June temperature and positive response with March-April precipitation using instrumental and gridded data. Tree ring of these species indicate significant positive response with May-June river flow. It is shown that these species have potential to evaluate past climatic variations of the area and past water flow response of Indus River.