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We assess the proposal of Hendriks & Redfield (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 236, 443-458, 2005) that cross-over of the predicted apatite fission track (AFT) . (U-Th-Sm)/ He (AHe) age relationship in the southeastern Fennoscandian shield in southern Finland reflects a-radiation-enhanced annealing (REA) of fission tracks at low temperatures and that more robust estimates of the denudation history are recorded through reproducible AHe data. New AHe results from southern Finland showing variable dispersion of single-grain ages may be biased by different factors operating within grains, which tend to give a greater weighting towards older age outliers. AHe ages from mafic rocks show the least dispersion and tend to be consistently lower than their coexisting AFT ages. In general, it is at the younger end of the single-grain variation range from such lithologies where most meaningful AHe ages can be found. AHe data from multigrain aliquots are, therefore, of limited value for evaluating thermal histories in southern Finland, especially when compared against coexisting AFT data as supporting evidence for REA.New, large datasets from the southern Canadian and Western Australian shields show the relationship between AFT age, single-grain age or mean track length as a function of U content (determined by the external detector method). These do not display the moderately strong inverse correlations previously reported from southern Finland in support of REA. Rather, the trends are inconsistent and generally exhibit weak positive or negative correlations. This is also the case for plots from both shields, as well as those from southern Finland, where AFT parameters are plotted against effective U concentration [eU] [based on U and Th content determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS)], which weights decay of the parents more accurately in terms of their a-productivity. Further, samples from southern Finland yield values of chi-square x 2 .5%, indicating that there is no significant effect of the range of uranium content between grains within samples on the AFT ages, and that they are all consistent with a single population.The oldest AFT ages in southern Finland apatites (amongst the oldest recorded from anywhere) are found in gabbros, which also have the highest Cl content of all samples studied. We suggest, that it is Cl content rather than REA that has influenced the annealing history of the apatites, which have experienced a history including reburial into the partial annealing zone by Caledonian Foreland basin sedimentation. The study of apatite from low U and Th rocks, with relatively low levels of a-radiation damage may provide the most practical approach for producing reliable results for AFT and AHe thermochronometry studies in cratonic environments.

Nine zircon and 18 apatite fission-track ages are used to determine the low-temperature cooling history of part of the Shuswap metamorphic core complex of the Canadian Cordillera. The zircon ages range from 54 to 38 Ma and the apatite ages from 49 to 28 Ma. These ages reveal a similarity in cooling histories across the Shuswap units until temperatures of ~250°C were reached at about 45 Ma. From this time onwards, the regional cooling pattern within the core complex was controlled by the relative movements on two normal faults, the Victor Creek fault and the Columbia River fault. Cooling since 45 Ma was variable, depending on the structural level of the sample. On this basis four thermotectonic units are defined. These units are controlled by normal faults that crosscut the lithological units of the core complex and reflect the latest stage of its evolution.

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