noteSection 2.1 of the White Mountains paper mistakenly considers the so-called 'Probability Density Plot' (PDP) to be a special case of the well known Kernel Density Estimator (KDE), citing Brandon (1996). The reasons why PDPs are not KDEs are explained here. Fortunately, none of the results of the White Mountains study are affected by this mistake because the main point of Section 2 is that cumulative distributions are much better than density estimates for what we now call 'tracer thermochronology'. Incidentally, it took me nearly two years to convince the reviewers of first Geology and then JGR of this important point! Which explains the outrageous length and tediousness of Section 2 :-( |