UThwigl — An R package for closed- and open-system uranium–thorium dating

Abstract

For several decades, uranium–thorium (U–Th) dating has allowed geochronologists to precisely date geological materials, providing invaluable geochronological constraints on Quaternary processes. Open-system dating of bones and teeth has also provided ages of human and faunal remains of archaeological significance. To facilitate access to closed- and open-system U–Th dating to the broad scientific community, here we provide an R package, named UThwigl . Description of input and output parameters is given, as well as a guide for running the model. The package can be used three different ways: (i) as a web application, (ii) through a web browser with an internet connection, or (iii) in R (most efficiently with RStudio). Examples of application of the model are also provided, showing that it yields ages within error of previously published values.