Mature Silver Maple - Leaves turning brown branch by branch

[Stratmanron]

Hi,

My first post on this forum. I have a huge silver maple that shades our deck. Not sure how old it is, much be a good 35 years. Bark is splitting and peeling at the base of the4 trunk, but that has been going on for years.

This summer, I noticed one large branch in the middle had leaves turning brown, & dry. Then it seemed to spread to other adjacent sections of the tree. The bottom branches seem to be OK so far. It is dropping the dead leaves.

Any ideas? I suppose guess I should have taken leaves to the U of Minnesota arborist division before this point.

Thanks!
Ron

 

[Raintree]

Can you post a few different pic angles of the stump area. Sometimes competing leaders sharing the same stump can choke each other out.

 

[Stratmanron]

Sure, I will take a few pics and post tonight. Thanks!