Abstract
The 17th International Conference on Thermochronology (Thermo2021) was
held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on September 12-17, 2021. This bi-annual
conference series evolved via the coalescence of the International
Workshops on Fission Track Thermochronology, held since 1978, and the
European Workshops on Thermochronology. It has become the premier forum
for thermochronology practitioners and users to discuss fundamental and
methodological topics and opportunities related to their science and its
future. Each conference is independently organized, and a Standing
Committee consisting of past organizers and other community members
helps to ensure their continuation into the future. Thermo2021 was
greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Normally the meeting would
have been expected to draw ~250 attendees, but travel
restrictions limited in-person attendance to 86, plus 21 remote
presenters. Nearly all in-person participants were from the US, and only
four were international. Talks and posters were distributed among five
themes: (U-Th)/He; fission track; other thermochronometers; frontiers in
data handling, statistics, interpretation methods, and modeling; and
integration and interpretation. Although COVID-19 presented many
challenges, it also allowed the Organizing Committee to adapt creatively
and transform adversity into opportunity. In particular, the smaller
number of attendees permitted more talks by students and early-career
scientists, both within the theme sessions and in the Charles & Nancy
Naeser Early Career Session. Discussion time was prioritized: at a
Tuesday evening “swap meet” for ideas, in 30-40-minute time slots
within each theme session, and in Friday afternoon breakouts for the
first four themes and another dedicated to early career and DEI issues.
These were used to identify emergent ideas and concerns across a broad
range of topics, from the theory and practice of the various
thermochronometric techniques, to their interpretation through thermal
history modeling and other methods, to anticipated trends in data
dissemination and management, to the needs of the next generation of
thermochronologists, particularly in the US. Each Friday breakout
designated a scribe who recorded the discussion and distributed their
notes. Each group then designated one or more writers to transform the
notes into text for this White Paper. Notes or early write-up versions
were provided to the international thermochronology community, and
feedback solicited. In addition, cross-cutting themes that occurred
across multiple breakout groups were identified and compiled. This White
Paper is the outcome of these efforts. We hope that it will serve as a
record for the meeting, and an overview of where the predominantly
US-based component of the thermochronology community considers the
current state of knowledge to be and where future efforts should be
directed, for developing both the science and its human infrastructure.