Short communication: Modeling competing effects of cooling rate, grain size, and radiation damage in low-temperature thermochronometers

Whipp, David M.; Kellett, Dawn A.; Coutand, Isabelle; Ketcham, Richard A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-143-2022

Articles | Volume 4, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-143-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-143-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 4, issue 1

Short communication/technical note

|

22 Mar 2022

Short communication/technical note |

| 22 Mar 2022

Short communication: Modeling competing effects of cooling rate, grain size, and radiation damage in low-temperature thermochronometers

David M. Whipp, Dawn A. Kellett, Isabelle Coutand, and Richard A. Ketcham

Model code and software

tcplotter: a Python package for creating and customizing thermochronometer age and closure temperature plots (v0.2.1) (https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/HUGG/tcplotter/v0.2.1?urlpath=lab/tree/tcplotter.ipynb) D. M. Whipp and R. A. Ketcham https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6341671

Short summary

Multi-thermochronometry, in which methods such as (U-Th)/He dating of zircon and apatite and apatite fission track dating are combined, is used to reconstruct rock thermal histories. Our ability to reconstruct thermal histories and interpret the geological significance of measured ages requires modeling. Here we use forward models to explore effects of grain size and chemistry on cooling ages and closure temperatures for the (U-Th)/He decay systems in apatite and zircon.