Final answer:
Radiocarbon dating can determine when a tree stopped absorbing carbon-14, helping to indicate the time of volcanic activity by analyzing trees that died during volcanic eruptions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Radiocarbon dating, also known as carbon-14 dating, is a method used to determine the age of organic materials by measuring the amount of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 (C-14) remaining in a sample. When an organism such as a tree dies, it stops replenishing its C-14 supply, and the C-14 begins to decay at a known rate, with a half-life of 5,730 years. By measuring the remaining C-14 in a tree, scientists can determine when the tree stopped absorbing C-14, which can give clues to the occurrence and time of certain events, like volcanic eruptions.
Radiocarbon determinations of the dates when trees died can help indicate the time of volcanic activity, as volcanic eruptions can bury and preserve trees in their ash and lava flows. These preserved trees, which were alive at the time of the eruption, stop absorbing C-14 once they are killed by the volcanic eruption, locking in the radioisotope content of that period.