Articles | Volume 6, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-429-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-429-2024
Research article
 | 
26 Jul 2024
Research article |  | 26 Jul 2024

The daughter–parent plot: a tool for analyzing thermochronological data

Birk Härtel and Eva Enkelmann

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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geochronology (GChron).
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Cited articles

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Armstrong, E. M., Ault, A. K., Kaempfer, J. M., and Guenthner, W. R.: Connecting visual metamictization to radiation damage to expand applications of zircon (U-Th) / He thermochronometry, Chem. Geol., 648, 121949, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2024.121949, 2024. 
Barbarand, J., Carter, A., Wood, I., and Hurford, T.: Compositional and structural control of fission-track annealing in apatite, Chem. Geol., 203, 107–137, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2541(02)00424-2, 2003. 
Baughman, J., Flowers, R. M., Metcalf, J. R., and Dhansay, T.: Influence of radiation damage on titanite He diffusion kinetics, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 205, 50–64, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2017.01.049, 2017. 
Brown, R. W., Beucher, R., Roper, S., Persano, C., Stuard, F., and Fitzgerald, P.: Natural age dispersion arising from the analysis of broken crystals. Part I: Theoretical basis and implications for the apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronometer, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 122, 478–497, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2013.05.041, 2013. 
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Short summary
We present a new data analysis workflow for thermochronological data based on plots of radiogenic daughter vs. radioactive parent concentration. The daughter–parent relationship helps to identify the sources of age variation. Our workflow classifies the daughter–parent relationship and provides further suggestions, e.g., if a dataset can be described by a sample age and which type of sample age to report. We also introduce Incaplot, which is software for creating daughter–parent plots.
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