Low-temperature thermochronology is a dating method that tells us when rocks cooled as they moved closer to the Earth’s surface. This helps scientists reconstruct the history of Earth’s crust, such as when mountains formed, basins filled, or landscapes eroded. These histories are often modelled using computer programs that track how rocks change temperature over time.

One major challenge is understanding what happened during the break-up of continents. Rocks have moved long distances since they first formed, making it hard to piece together their original positions and histories.

We have developed a new tool within the open-access EarthBank platform to solve this problem. It allows researchers to view thermal history models in four dimensions by rolling-back geologic time using GPlates-based tool. This shows how fast rocks were cooling (and being eroded) at any point in the past, alongside their paleogeographic positions.

To show what this tool can do, we compiled and modelled over 5,000 thermochronology samples from Central Gondwana (now southern Africa). This provides a continent-scale view of how the upper crust cooled and evolved since the Jurassic period.