Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite
<p>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, etchi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Geochronology |
| Online Access: | https://gchron.copernicus.org/articles/4/109/2022/gchron-4-109-2022.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797230806458957824 |
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| author | C. Aslanian R. Jonckheere B. Wauschkuhn L. Ratschbacher |
| author_facet | C. Aslanian R. Jonckheere B. Wauschkuhn L. Ratschbacher |
| author_sort | C. Aslanian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>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 <span class="inline-formula"><i>ζ</i></span> 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.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T15:34:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a3160b958bae4257816add8c18e85e42 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2628-3719 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T15:34:20Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geochronology |
| spelling | doaj.art-a3160b958bae4257816add8c18e85e422024-04-02T02:34:37ZengCopernicus PublicationsGeochronology2628-37192022-02-01410911910.5194/gchron-4-109-2022Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatiteC. AslanianR. JonckheereB. WauschkuhnL. Ratschbacher<p>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 <span class="inline-formula"><i>ζ</i></span> 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.</p>https://gchron.copernicus.org/articles/4/109/2022/gchron-4-109-2022.pdf |
| spellingShingle | C. Aslanian R. Jonckheere B. Wauschkuhn L. Ratschbacher Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite Geochronology |
| title | Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite |
| title_full | Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite |
| title_fullStr | Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite |
| title_full_unstemmed | Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite |
| title_short | Short communication: Experimental factors affecting fission-track counts in apatite |
| title_sort | short communication experimental factors affecting fission track counts in apatite |
| url | https://gchron.copernicus.org/articles/4/109/2022/gchron-4-109-2022.pdf |
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