Xe- and U-tracks in apatite and muscovite near the etching threshold

Wauschkuhn, Bastian; Jonckheere, Raymond; Ratschbacher, Lothar

doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2014.11.072

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…It is probable that it also applies to samples with a substantial component of tracks formed at low temperatures. Recent evidence shows that terminal track sections that are unetchable in the apatite grain interiors are revealed by surface-assisted sub-threshold etching at their intersection with the surface (Wauschkuhn et al, 2015b). In consequence, the etchable lengths of the confined fission tracks must not be the same as those of the surface tracks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standardless fission-track dating of the Durango apatite age standard

2015

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Five dating strategies were used for determining the standardless fission-track age of the Durango apatite. These use the same fossil-track densities but differ in the manner in which the induced-track densities are determined. A conventional age calculation, without correction for experimental factors, gives inconsistent ages with methodrelated differences N 15%. Correcting for these factors brings the ages in line with each other and with the reference age but leaves no room for a partial-annealing correction based on the confined-track lengths. Three further reasons suggest that a length correction is not appropriate. (1) The evidence for lengthbased corrections is inconclusive. (2) The plateau age of the Durango apatite is consistent with its apparent fission-track age to within 1%. (3) The calculated effective etchable length of the fossil tracks agrees within error with that of the induced tracks; both are further consistent with the measured mean length of confined induced tracks. The circumstance that the (U,Th)/He ages of the accepted and proposed apatite age standards are consistent with their reference ages leaves no margin for a lowered fission-track age resulting from partial annealing, although the case of the Durango apatite itself is inconclusive because of its exceptional crystal size. It is conjectured that the shortening of the fossil tacks in the Durango apatite is due to a lowering of the track etch rate over time. In this case, annealing equations fitted to induced-track data underestimate the extent of confined-track-length reduction in geological samples.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standardless fission-track dating of the Durango apatite age standard

2015

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“…(c) Track added due to surface etching, characterized by a long, thin etch channel and an undersized etch pit. (d) Two etch pits formed at shallow tracks with a stepped appearance due to intermittent etching at the track extremities (Wauschkuhn et al, 2015b). (e) Measurement of etch pit size.…”

Section: Experiments and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite

et al. 2022

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Abstract. The tools for interpreting fission-track data are evolving apace, but, even so, the outcomes cannot be better than the data. Recent studies showed that track etching and observation affect confined-track length measurements. We investigated the effects of grain orientation, polishing, etching and observation on fission-track counts in apatite. Our findings throw light on the phenomena that affect the track counts and hence the sample ages, whilst raising the question: what counts as an etched surface track? This is pertinent to manual and automatic track counts and to designing training strategies for neural networks. Counting prism faces and using the ζ calibration for age calculation are assumed to deal with most etching- and counting-related factors. However, prism faces are not unproblematic for counting, and other surface orientations are not unusable. Our results suggest that a reinvestigation of the etching properties of different apatite faces could increase the range useful for dating and lift a significant restriction for provenance studies.

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“…The mismatch increases for the more annealed samples, in which the number of identifiable track channels 180 under TL decreases faster than the RL features. We counted these features on the assumption that they represent the surface intersections of long (with channel) or short (without channel) etched segments of intermittent latent fission tracks (Gleadow et al, 1983;Green et al, 1986;Paul and Fitzgerald, 1992;Paul, 1993;Li et al, 2011;2014;Wauschkuhn et al, 2015).…”

Section: Experiments and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short communication concerning experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite

Aslanian

Jonckheere

Wauschkuhn

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. The tools for interpreting fission-track data are evolving apace but, even so, the outcomes cannot be better than the data. Recent studies that have again taken up the issues of etching and observation have shown that both have an effect on confined-track length measurements. We report experiments concerning the effects of grain orientation, polishing, etching and observation on fission-track counts in apatite. The results cannot be generalized to circumstances other than those of the experiments, and thus do not solve the problems of track counting. Our findings nevertheless throw light on the factors affecting the track counts, and thence the sample ages, whilst raising the question: what counts as an etched surface track? This is pertinent to manual and automatic track counts and to designing training strategies for neural networks. We cannot be confident that counting prism faces and using the ζ-calibration for age calculation are adequate for dealing with all etching- and counting-related factors across all samples. Prism faces are not unproblematic for counting and other surface orientations are not per se useless. Our results suggest that a reinvestigation of the etching properties of different apatite faces could increase the range useful for dating, and so lift a severe restriction for provenance studies.

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Xe- and U-tracks in apatite and muscovite near the etching threshold

Cited by 8 publications

References 45 publications

Standardless fission-track dating of the Durango apatite age standard

Standardless fission-track dating of the Durango apatite age standard

Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite

Short communication concerning experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite

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