We determine the long-term growth rate and longevity of an Azorella compacta growing on Misti volcano, near Arequipa, Peru to investigate the species' capacity as a geochronological resource. Using ¹⁴C dating on stem pieces sequestered within the plant's cushion, which grows larger through time, we obtain ages of 15 ± 15 ¹⁴C yrs BP and 165 ± 15 ¹⁴C yrs BP at depths of 15 cm and 29 cm below the cushion's living surface, respectively. Applying a mixed calibration curve with a Bayesian growth model yields calendar age ranges of 1948–1958 CE and 1802–1935 CE for our ¹⁴C dates, respectively. Such ages provide sufficiently precise constraints for investigations requiring dating during the last few hundred years when individual ¹⁴C dates yield imprecise calendar age ranges. We infer a long-term growth rate of 1.3–3.5 mm yr⁻¹, corroborating published maximum short-term growth rates. Extrapolating our growth model to the A. compacta's core suggests that it began growing as early as 1462–1830 CE. At such age it lived through myriad important geological and historical events, including regional earthquakes, volcanic unrest at Misti, decades to centuries of the Little Ice Age, and a broad transect of Peruvian history possibly beginning during the Inca Empire. A. compacta may provide another important geochronological resource in the arid Central Andes that can be applied to date volcanological, glacial, mass-movement, and archaeological features, especially where dendrochronology and lichenometry are not possible.

我们确定了在秘鲁阿雷基帕附近的米斯蒂火山上生长的密植亚速氏菌的长期增长率和寿命，以研究该物种作为地质年代资源的能力。使用隔离在植物垫子中的茎片上的¹⁴ C年代，该茎片随着时间的推移会增长，我们得出的年龄分别为15±15 ¹⁴ C yrs BP和165±15 ¹⁴ C yrs BP，位于垫子生活区以下15 cm和29 cm处表面。将混合校准曲线与贝叶斯增长模型一起使用，得出我们^14年的日历年龄范围为1948-1958年和1802-1935年。C日期，分别。当单个¹⁴ C日期产生不精确的日历年龄范围时，此类年龄为需要在最近几百年内进行约会的研究提供了足够精确的约束。我们推断出1.3–3.5 mm yr ^-1的长期增长率，证实了已公布的最大短期增长率。我们推断增长模式到A.致密核心提示它最早始于1462至1830年增长CE。在这样的时代，它经历了无数重要的地质和历史事件，包括区域地震，米斯蒂的火山动荡，小冰期的数十年到几个世纪，以及秘鲁历史的广泛横断面（可能始于印加帝国）。致密曲霉 可能在干旱的中部安第斯山脉中提供另一个重要的年代学资源，可用于确定火山学，冰川，物质运动和考古学特征的日期，尤其是在树木年代学和地衣测量学不可能的地方。