Low-temperature thermochronology methodology and applications (Part 1)

Low-temperature thermochronology methods refer to radiometric dating techniques with partial annealing/retention zones (closure temperatures) below 300 ℃. These methods can quantitatively determine the temperature history experienced by minerals/rocks in the upper crust during geological process, reconstruct the thermal evolution of geological bodies, hence have been widely applied in the fields of basic geology, ore geology, oil and gas basins, geomorphology, and planetary science. The main methods include fission track and (U-Th)/He dating techniques.This paper briefly reviews the development process, principles, experimental techniques, and basic data composition of the two dating methods, and discusses the factors affecting the accuracy of these dating methods as well as the research progress of the new low-temperature thermochronology methods. Low-temperature thermochronology data usually need to be combined with geological constraints and interpreted by numerical modeling, and in the final part of the article, we briefly describe the commonly used numerical simulation tools in thermochronology. The application of these methods can deepen our understanding on geological processes and geomorphic evolution.