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Cavity from old injury

cavity developed from massive trunk injury
This cavity developed from a massive trunk injury about 25 feet above the top of the photo. A ring crack developed along the barrier zone, then a ray crack formed from the ring crack out to the edge of the bark. Decay followed forming the cavity you see here.
old trunk injury
This is a developing hollow resulting from an old trunk injury. A cross section of the left photo would look similar to the photo above. The dark barrier zone can be seen encircling a core of dead wood in the center of the cross section. The wood inside the barrier zone is decaying resulting in a hollow trunk. As the two sides of the cavity grow together, cracks in the trunk are likely to form further weakening the tree.