Several Problems in Low-Temperature Thermal History Modeling

Abstract

Thermal history modeling based on low-temperature thermochronological data is widely used in the study of geology. Despite its common applications, several problems remain easy to ignore yet should not be overlooked in the execution of such models. This paper describes four key problems of thermal history modeling, namely, (1) is the best-fit thermal history the best? (2) Is the date constraint box a suitable constraint? (3) Does the bimodal distribution of the apatite fission track confined track length absolutely correspond to the cooling reheating model? (4) Is the whole thermal history path credible? Counterexamples are then provided to stress the importance of accounting for these problems in the application of thermal history modeling. Acknowledging the uncertainty and considering the geological constraints are recommended to improve the accuracy of thermal history models. Moreover, thermal historical intervals with high credibility and strong constraint ability are recommended to interpret the selected geological phenomenon.

Keywords

• thermal history modeling
• low-temperature thermochronology
• fission track
• (U-Th)/He