EAR-PF: Using noble gas techniques to benchmark feldspar thermoluminescence (TL) thermochronology

内森·布朗博士被授予博士后奖学金，在伯克利地质年代学中心进行研究和教育计划。该项目的主要目标是开发长石热释光（TL）用作超低温温度计。一旦得到验证，这项技术将允许地质学家：推断最近由地球表面上方一两公里内的地貌因素引起的温度扰动；解析局部全新世隆升速率，更好地评估构造活动区地震风险；并对其潜在的地热能资源进行调查。布朗博士还将与本科生和研究生进行互动，并对他们进行样本制备和数据分析技术方面的培训，以实现这项新技术。河流和冰川侵蚀基岩的时空尺度在很大程度上是热年代学家无法获得的。然而，长石TL热年代学显示出对近地表和大气温度的敏感性，可以用来约束大约100至100万年时间尺度上的连续热历史。本研究将对长石的热释热（TL）测定结果与石英和磷灰石的4He/3He热年代学中更为成熟的古测温技术所获得的结果进行校正。将被分析的基岩样本来自靠近圣安德烈亚斯断层的尤凯帕山脊构造块；不列颠哥伦比亚省的Klinaklini冰川谷；以及南极洲的彭萨科拉山脉。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Dr. Nathan Brown has been granted a postdoctoral fellowship to carry out research and an education plan with at the Berkeley Geochronology Center. The main goal of this project is to develop feldspar thermoluminescence (TL) for use as an ultra-low-temperature thermochronometer. Once validated, this technique will allow geologists to: infer recent temperature perturbations caused by geomorphic agents acting within the upper kilometer or two of Earth's surface; resolve local Holocene uplift rates and better evaluate seismic risk in tectonically active regions; and survey sites for their potential geothermal energy resources. Dr. Brown will also interact with and train undergraduate and graduate students in the sample preparation and data analysis techniques necessary to implement this novel technique.The spatial and temporal scales over which rivers and glaciers erode bedrock are largely inaccessible to thermochronologists. Feldspar TL thermochronology, however, shows sensitivity to near-surface and atmospheric temperatures and can be used to constrain continuous thermal histories at timescales ranging from about 100 to 1,000,000 years. This study will calibrate feldspar TL results against results obtained with the more established techniques of paleothermometry from cosmogenic 3He in quartz and apatite 4He/3He thermochronology. Bedrock samples that will be analyzed come from the Yucaipa Ridge tectonic block, adjacent to the San Andreas fault; the Klinaklini glacial valley in British Columbia; and the Pensacola Mountains of Antarctica.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.