University of Arizona opens groundbreaking TIME Lab to link past and present
The TIME Lab houses advanced isotope and radiocarbon tools, pushing tree-ring science into new frontiers.
Courtesy of Charlotte Pearson
History can be confined in textbooks or materialized in artifacts behind glass. At the University of Arizona, researchers see it written in the lines of wood, in the rings of trees.
The TIME Lab’s MICADAS instrument, a mini radiocarbon dating system, can analyze samples as small as a splinter of wood.
Courtesy of Charlotte Pearson
Their work is anchored in the new Laboratory for Tree-Ring Innovations in Mass Spectrometry of Earth Systems (TIME Lab), an innovative facility that combines high resolution radiocarbon and stable isotope analysis. It is a space that combines U of A’s world-renowned tree-ring archive with brand-new technology designed to push science into places it hasn’t gone before.
“We aim to date the previously undateable, by matching single year radiocarbon patterns that are present in trees anywhere on Earth,” said Dr. Charlotte Pearson, associate professor and director of the TIME Lab.
Looking deeper into the past
The TIME Lab houses an instrument known as a MICADAS which stands for Mini Radiocarbon Dating System. The machine can detect rare isotopes of carbon, including carbon 14, in samples as small as a splinter of wood. That data paired with tree rings that already tell scientists exactly what year a sample grew makes it possible to trace environmental changes with year-by-year accuracy.
Inside the University of Arizona’s TIME Lab, researchers prepare delicate samples for analysis.
Courtesy of Charlotte Pearson
For Pearson and her team, that means connecting natural events, like volcanic eruptions or solar storms, to the histories that unfolded around them.
“For example, we might suspect a major drought ended a period of occupation at a site,” she said. “If all the evidence dates to the same moment in time, that would support the idea of a catastrophic drought. But if the dating shows a series of events spread over 50 or 60 years, the story changes. Maybe it’s about the resilience of a society that endured a severe drought and carried on, even in a new location.”
That is one reason why understanding the timing of past events is so important.
“But it can also provide data to help predict when other types of hazards may happen again, and similar instances have happened before,” Pearson said. “To learn from them, we need accurate chronology—precise dates down to the year—and that is our goal.”
The TIME Lab is also home to associate professor Soumaya Belmecheri’s isotope mass spectrometers, which measure stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon to reconstruct complex climate signals. Other instrumentation in the TIME Lab includes a stable isotope mass spectrometer with a laser system that can delve further into the details of past climate, as well as providing other patterns for dating.
Trees as storytellers
Arizona has a long history in dendrochronology. The university holds one of the largest archives in the world, including bristlecone pine samples that stretch back over 5,000 years. Pearson calls these tree time capsules that
Inside the University of Arizona’s TIME Lab, researchers prepare delicate samples for analysis.
Courtesy of Charlotte Pearson
store evidence of climate shifts and natural events. With new methods, scientists can revisit wood samples collected decades ago and find new answers hidden inside.
“The time capsules that they hold have this knowledge that we haven't fully been able to extract yet,” Pearson said. “With the new TIME Lab, we will hopefully be able to learn a lot more from them, and we can do so with tiny amounts of samples so we're not destroying these precious resources. It will allow us to explore them in new ways and gain new knowledge and information.”
More than just research
The TIME Lab isn’t just about research and measurements—it’s about the scientists who keep the work running and the students who will carry it forward. The team includes associate professor Soumaya Belmecheri and her undergraduate students, who use cutting-edge stable isotope instrumentation for dating and complex climate research; radiocarbon scientist Chris Wood; professor David Frank; curator Peter Brewer; assistant curator Shannon Harrel; research technician Gabriella Vanover; research associate Li Cheng; and Dr. Bryan Black, professor and associate director of the University of Arizona’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.
Pearson said outreach is built into the lab’s mission. Along with training students, she hopes to connect the public through creative approaches like art and illustration.
“We are also partnering with artists and illustrators to tell the story in different ways, acknowledging that everybody is different, and their ways of understanding are different,” she said. “We want to bring that to the general public so that they can understand this science and they can make judgments on it for themselves. We want to communicate science to the broader public, and we want to inspire the next generation. We're trying to make it more engaging with that purpose.”
Looking forward
Currently in a testing phase with a full launch planned for fall 2025, the TIME Lab will not only push boundaries of research but also offer analytical services, including high precision radiocarbon dating to both U of A and external researchers.
To learn more about the TIME Lab, click here.