Fission-Track Dating, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1992 Solid Earth Sciences Library Series, Vol. 6

Fission track dating is based on the microscopic observation and counting of etchable tracks left by the spontaneous fission of uranium in minerals. Since its development in 1963 the method attracted a steadily growing interest from geologists and geochronologists throughout the world. Apart from its relative experimental ease the success must be mainly ascribed to the specific ability of the method of unravelling the thermal and tectonic history of rocks, a potential which only became fully exploited during the last decade with the systematic introduction of track size analysis.
The present work is the first one to deal entirely with fission track dating covering all of its aspects from the origin of the fission tracks, the basis of track etching and fading, the various dating techniques as well as practical procedures and the geologic interpretation to the most recent applications in geology and archaeology.

Particle Tracks and Fission Tracks.- 1.1. Particle Tracks in Solids: Generalities.- 1.2. Structure of the Latent Track.- 1.2.1. Track width.- 1.2.2. Atomic structure.- 1.3. Track Formation.- 1.3.1. Particle-solid interactions.- 1.3.2. Track-formation processes and theories.- 1.4. Nuclear Fission and Formation of Fission Tracks.- 1.4.1. Process of nuclear fission.- 1.4.2. Latent fission tracks.- 1.4.3. Spatial and areal density of fission tracks.- Track Revelation and Observation.- 2.1. Techniques of Track Revelation: Chemical Etching.- 2.2. Etched Tracks in Glass.- 2.3.1. Fundamentals.- 2.2.2. Track density.- 2.2.3. Track shape and size.- 2.2.4. Effects of varying Vt.- 2.2.5. Factors affecting track etching.- 2.3. Etched Tracks in Crystals.- 2.3.1. Fundamentals.- 2.3.2. Track shape.- 2.3.3. Track density.- 2.3.4. Size distributions of track populations.- 2.3.5. Factors affecting track etching.- 2.4. Microscopic Observation.- 2.4.1. Equipment and techniques.- 2.4.2. Automated observation.- 3. Fission-Track Dating Method.- 3.1. Natural Tracks and their Origin.- 3.2. Principles of the Dating Method: Fundamental Age Equation.- 3.3. Practical Age Equation.- 3.4. Relevant Nuclear Parameters.- 3.4.1. Decay-constant of 238 U spontaneous fission (?f).- 3.4.2. Cross-section of 235 U neutron-induced fission.- 3.5. Dating Systems and their Calibration.- 3.5.1. Absolute approach.- 3.5.2. Age standard approach: the ? -method.- 3.6. Dating Procedures and Techniques.- 3.6.1. Grain-population methods.- 3.6.2. Grain-by-grain methods.- 3.7. Practical Considerations.- 3.7.1. Sample preparation and irradiation.- 3.7.2. Track counting and measuring.- 3.8. Data Analysis and Error Calculation.- 3.8.1. Grain-population methods.- 3.8.2. Grain-by-grain methods.- 3.8.3. Error in the age determination.- 3.8.4. Analysis of age groups.- 3.9. Age Standards and Accuracy of Age Determination.- 3.10. Data Presentation.- 4. Fading of Fission Tracks.- 4.1. Causes of Track Fading.- 4.2. Track Annealing under Experimental Conditions.- 4.2.1. Annealing experiments.- 4.2.2. Arrhenius diagram.- 4.2.3. Length of annealed fission tracks.- 4.2.4. Factors of influence on annealing.- 4.2.5. Annealing kinetics.- 4.3. Track Stability under Natural Conditions.- 4.3.1. Bore-hole studies.- 4.3.2. Outcrop studies.- 4.3.3. Temperatures of effective track retention.- 5. Geological Interpretation.- 5.1. Intersecting Probability of Faded Tracks.- 5.2. Partial Annealing and Effective Retention of Tracks.- 5.3. T-t-Path and Fission-Track Accumulation.- 5.4. T-t-Path and Fission-Track-Length Distribution.- 5.5. Types of Fission-Track Age.- 5.5.1 A-type ages (formation and early cooling).- 5.5.2. B-type ages (cooling and uplift).- 5.5.3. C-type ages (complex and overprint ages).- 5.6. Age-Depth Profiles.- 5.6.l. Stratigraphic profile.- 5.6.2. Uplift profile.- 5.6.3. Complex profile.- 5.6.4. Modelled uplift age-depth profiles.- 5.7. Correction of Track Fading.- 5.7.1. Track-size-correction technique.- 5.7.2. Plateau-correction technique.- 6. Applicability.- 6.1. Time Span.- 6.2. Geological Materials.- 6.2.1. Allanite.- 6.2.2. Amazonite.- 6.2.3. Apatite.- 6.2.4. Barysilite.- 6.2.5. Bastnäsite.- 6.2.6. Beryl.- 6.2.7. Calcite.- 6.2.8. Chlorite.- 6.2.9. Epidote.- 6.2.10. Garnet.- 6.2.11. Glass.- 6.2.12. Glauconite.- 6.2.13. Hornblende.- 6.2.14. Hübnerite.- 6.2.15. Kyanite.- 6.2.16. Mica.- 6.2.17. Microlite.- 6.2.18. Monazite.- 6.2.19. Orpiment.- 6.2.20. Quartz.- 6.2.21. Scheelite.- 6.2.22. Secondary lead minerals.- 6.2.23. Sphene.- 6.2.24. Stibiotantalite.- 6.2.25. Tanzanite.- 6.2.26. Vermiculite.- 6.2.27. Vesuvianite.- 6.2.28. Zeolite.- 6.2.29. Zircon.- 7. Application.- 7.1. Tephrochronology.- 7.2. Post-Orogenic Uplift of Mountain Belts.- 7.2.1. General.- 7.2.2. Central Alps.- 7.3. Epeirogenic Uplift of Basements.- 7.3.1. Transantarctic Mountains.- 7.3.2. Central European Basement.- 7.4. Age and Amount of Displacement along Faults.- 7.5. Thermal Evolution of Sedimentary Basins.- 7.5.1. Tejon Oil Field.- 7.5.2. Otway Basin.- 7.6. Age and Thermal History of Ore Deposits.- 7.6.1. Mineralization ages.- 7.6.2. Thermal history of MVT deposits.- 7.7. Meteoroid Impacts.- 7.7.1. Age of impact structures.- 7.7.2. Thermal evolution of the Ries impact crater.- 7.7.3. Tektites.- 7.8. Sea-Floor Spreading.- 7.9. Archaeological Application.- 7.9.1. Man-made glass.- 7.9.2. Obsidian.- 7.9.3. Fired stones and baked soils.- 7.9.4. Palaeolithic marker horizons.- Appendix A: Etching Conditions for the Revelation of Fission Tracks.- Appendix B: Annealing Properties of Fission Tracks in Minerals and Glasses.- Appendix C: Fundamentals of Error Calculation in Fission-Track Dating.- References.