Wood density of three oak species in Tennessee, 1940–45 and 1970–75

Three oak species from East Tennessee were core-sampled to determine whether the density of wood produced in a pre-pollution period (1940–45) was different from that of a pollution period (1970–75) using gamma-densitometry. Component densities of average earlywood, average latewood, minimum earlywood, maximum latewood and average periodic density for Quercus alba L. and Quercus prinus L. were significantly greater for 1940–45 than for 1970–75. Differences between the two time periods for mean earlywood (P = 0.05), maximum latewood and mean periodic densities were found for Q. velutina.