Fission-Track Dating (Solid Earth Sciences Library)

Hardcover, xiii + 285 pages, NOT ex-library. Minor wear (a blank sticker over the previous owner's name on the front endpaper, sunned spine). Interior is clean, with unmarked text, free of stamps, firmly bound. Issued without a dust jacket. -- Fission track dating is based on the microscopic observation and counting of etchable tracks left by the spontaneous fission of uranium in minerals. 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. This work deals 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 recent applications in geology and archaeology. -- Contents: 1. Particle Tracks and Fission Tracks [Particle Tracks in Solids: Generalities; Structure of the Latent Track; Track Formation (Particle-solid interactions; Track-formation processes & theories); Nuclear Fission & Formation of Fission Tracks]; 2. Track Revelation & Observation [Techniques of Track Revelation: Chemical Etching; Etched Tracks in Glass & Crystals; Microscopic Observation (Equipment & techniques; Automated observation)]; 3. Fission-Track Dating Method [Natural Tracks & their Origin; Dating Method Principles: Fundamental Age Equation; Practical Age Equation; Relevant Nuclear Parameters; Dating Systems & their Calibration (Absolute & Age standard approach); Dating Procedures and Techniques (Grain-population methods; Grain-by-grain methods); Practical Considerations (Sample preparation and irradiation; Track counting and measuring); Data Analysis and Error Calculation; Age Standards and Accuracy of Age Determination; Data Presentation]; 4. Fading of Fission Tracks [Causes of Track Fading; Track Annealing under Experimental Conditions (Annealing experiments; Arrhenius diagram; Length of annealed fission tracks; Factors of influence on annealing; Annealing kinetics); Track Stability under Natural Conditions (Bore-hole studies; Outcrop studies; Temperatures of effective track retention)]; 5. Geological Interpretation [Intersecting Probability of Faded Tracks; Partial Annealing and Effective Retention of Tracks; T-t-Path and Fission-Track Accumulation; T-t-Path and Fission-Track-Length Distribution; Types of Fission-Track Age; Age-Depth Profiles (Stratigraphic profile; Uplift profile; Complex profile; Modelled uplift age-depth profiles); Correction of Track Fading (Track -size-correction technique; Plateau-correction technique)]; 6. Applicability [Time Span; Geological Materials (Allanite; Amazonite; Apatite; Barysilite; Bastnasite; Beryl; Calcite; Chlorite; Epidote; Garnet; Glass; Glauconite; Hornblende; Hubnerite; Kyanite; Mica; Microlite; Monazite; Orpiment; Quartz; Scheelite; Secondary lead minerals; Sphene; Stibiotantalite; Tanzanite; Vermiculite; Vesuvianite; Zeolite; Zircon)]; 7. Application [Tephrochronology; Post-Orogenic Uplift of Mountain Belts (General; Central Alps); Epeirogenic Uplift of Basements (Transantarctic Mountains; Central European Basement); Age and Amount of Displacement along Faults; Thermal Evolution of Sedimentary Basins (Tejon Oil Field; Otway Basin); Age and Thermal History of Ore Deposits (Mineralization ages; Thermal history of MVT deposits); Meteoroid Impacts (Age of impact structures; Thermal evolution of the Ries impact crater; Tektites); Sea-Floor Spreading; Archaeological Application (Man-made glass; Obsidian; Fired stones and baked soils; 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; Index. …