geoChronR

geoChronR is a comprehensive R package designed to help paleoscientists analyze and visualize time-uncertain data. As the lead developer, I created this tool to address the fundamental challenge of working with paleoclimate records where age models carry significant uncertainty.

Key Features

Advanced Age Modeling

• Generate ensemble age models that capture chronological uncertainty
• Support for multiple dating methods and constraints
• Bayesian age modeling capabilities

Time-Uncertain Analysis

• Correlation analysis with proper uncertainty propagation
• Regression analysis accounting for age uncertainty
• Spectral analysis on time-uncertain datasets
• Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with chronological uncertainty

Comprehensive Visualization

• Intuitive plotting functions for age models and ensembles
• Publication-ready figures with uncertainty bands
• Interactive visualization capabilities

Technical Details

• Current Version: 1.1.16
• R Requirements: 3.6.0 or newer
• License: MIT
• Installation: Available on GitHub with easy installation via remotes

install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("nickmckay/geoChronR")
library(geoChronR)

Impact & Recognition

Published in Geochronology (2021) as a peer-reviewed software paper, geoChronR has become an essential tool for the paleoclimate community. The package addresses critical methodological challenges in paleoclimate research by providing robust statistical methods for age-uncertain data analysis.

Development Team

• Nicholas McKay (Author/Maintainer) - Northern Arizona University
• Julien Emile-Geay (Author) - University of Southern California
• Deborah Khider (Author) - University of Southern California

Citation

McKay, N. P., Emile-Geay, J., and Khider, D.: geoChronR – an R package to model, analyze, and visualize age-uncertain data, Geochronology, 3, 149–169, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-149-2021, 2021.