Calculation of the conodont Color Alteration Index (CAI) for complex thermal histories
✍ Scribed by G.G. Voldman; R.A. Bustos-Marún; G.L. Albanesi
- Book ID
- 104013805
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 257 KB
- Volume
- 82
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0166-5162
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✦ Synopsis
A simple model for the Arrhenius reaction conodont Color Alteration Index (CAI) that can be implemented easily in a computer program is introduced. The model, named to as EasyCAI, envisages the overall process of conodont alteration as a series of 12 parallel pseudo-first-order reactions. Our approach is especially amenable to a spreadsheet program and can solve complex geological histories involving variable heating and cooling rates. With EasyCAI, a profile of CAI values versus time can be obtained for a given stratigraphic level if the time-temperature history for that level has been estimated. EasyCAI can provide additional constraints to optimize thermal history models by computing profiles of CAI values with depth and time; thus providing a new tool for quantitative CAI palaeothermometric analysis.