[en] Highlights: • Damage kinetics in a-SiO₂ due to swift heavy ion and gamma ray irradiation was measured using infrared spectroscopy. • Ion track cross sections were compared to the predictions of the analytical thermal spike model. • Available literature data on ion tracks in a-SiO₂ was analysed using analytical thermal spike model. - Abstract: Ion track formation in amorphous SiO₂ was investigated using infrared spectroscopy. For comparison, one set of samples was also irradiated using 1.25 MeV gamma rays. An increase of 1044 cm⁻¹ peak and decrease of 1078 cm⁻¹ peak was observed in all cases. Experimental results were analysed using an analytical thermal spike model and non-standard model parameters were found. This finding is attributed to the amorphous structure of the material.