Speakers
Ms
Jessica Stanley
(University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
Dr
Rebecca Flowers
(University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
Description
AEON Earth Stewardship Science – Short Course, 13-14 August 2013
Thermochronology Short Course Outline
Organizers: Becky Flowers and Jessica Stanley, University of Colorado Boulder
Tuesday, 13 August 2013 (0.5 day)
Low temperature thermochronology: General background and technique (0.5 day = 4 hrs)
13:00 – 13:50 Fundamentals of thermochronology
Topics will include radioactivity and decay, diffusion, closure temperatures, partial retention, and the thermal structure of the lithosphere
14:00 – 14:50 Development and fundamentals of (U-Th)/He thermochronology
Historical view of He thermochronology, highlighting recent milestones of the last two decades Details of the (U-Th)/He method, how to do analyses, reproducibility, uncertainties, and the effects of radiation damage, parent zonation, and inclusions on He dates
15:00 – 15:50 Interpreting He dates – classic examples
Examples of published and ongoing studies that have taken advantage of He thermochronology to constrain a variety of geologic and tectonic processes. Topics may include the use of He thermochronology in convergent and divergent orogens, landscape evolution, the thermal history of sedimentary basins and implications for hydrocarbon exploration, detrital thermochronology, and spatial and temporal patterns of erosion
16:00 - 16:50 General discussion and HeFTy software downloads/organization.
Wednesday, 14 August 2013 (0.75 day)
Low temperature thermochronology: Applications and case studies (0.75 day = 6 hrs)
08:00 – 09:10 Case study: Southern African Plateau
09:25 – 10:35 Tutorial #1: Modeling He dates, the basics
Hands-on exercise using freely available software (HeFTy) to create thermal models using He data
10:50 – 12:00 Case study: North American interior
13:00 - 13:30 The Future of He thermochronology
Discussion of where He thermochronology is headed, highlighting recent work on applying and interpreting He datasets, including an emphasis on minerals other than apatite and zircon. Examples may include wildfire thermochronology, clinker dating, double-dating, and more sophisticated modeling approaches
13:30 – 14:00 Brainstorming and discussion of ideas for He work on problems in Africa
14:00 – 15:00 Tutorial #2: More complex examples
Primary author
Dr
Rebecca Flowers
(University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
Co-author
Ms
Jessica Stanley
(University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
