Reconstruction of geologic thermal histories

A method of estimating temperature histories of a geologic basin, comprising the steps of:

• a) obtaining rock sample data;
• b) converting said sample data to observed paleothermometric values;
• c) generating at least one trial temperature history based upon preselected constraints and estimated paleothermometric values corresponding to said trial temperature history;
• d) calculating a measure of fitness between said estimated paleothermometric values and said observed paleothermometric values;
• e) recording the temperature history if said measure of fitness satisfies prespecified input criteria;
• f) generating at least one updated trial temperature history using a stochastic search algorithm and new estimated paleothermometric values corresponding to said updated trial temperature history;
• and
• g) iterating steps d), e), and f) to generate a collection of said updated temperature histories for which said measure of fitness satisfies said prespecified input criteria.