Technical note: Geodynamic Thermochronology (GDTchron) – A Python package to calculate low-temperature thermochronometric ages from geodynamic numerical models

Vasey, Dylan A.; Scully, Peter M.; Naliboff, John B.; Brune, Sascha

doi:10.5194/gchron-8-209-2026

Articles | Volume 8, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-8-209-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Technical notes on modelling thermochronologic data

https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-8-209-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 8, issue 1

Short communication/technical note

|

01 Apr 2026

Short communication/technical note |

| 01 Apr 2026

Technical note: Geodynamic Thermochronology (GDTchron) – A Python package to calculate low-temperature thermochronometric ages from geodynamic numerical models

Dylan A. Vasey, Peter M. Scully, John B. Naliboff, and Sascha Brune

Model code and software

dyvasey/gdtchron: GDTchron 0.1.2 Dylan Vasey et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18602490

Short summary

We present an open-access Python package (GDTchron) designed to forward model apatite (U-Th)/He, apatite fission track, and zircon (U-Th)/He ages using temperatures output by geodynamic numerical models. The software can be used in a parallelized workflow to calculate large numbers of ages. We present two examples of potential applications of GDTchron: a simple model of exhumation and a complex model of continental rifting followed by mountain building.