Title
Durango apatite fission-track dating using length-based age corrections and neutron fluence measurements by natural thorium thin films and natural U-doped glasses calibrated through natural uranium thin films
Date Issued
01 August 2002
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Universidade Estadual Paulista
Publisher(s)
Elsevier
Abstract
In this work, we present an approach for neutron fluence measurements based on natural thorium thin films and natural uranium-doped glasses calibrated through natural uranium thin films to be used for dating with the Fission-Track Method (FTM). This neutron dosimetry approach allows the employment of FTM even when dating is carried out using low neutron thermalization facilities. Besides, it makes possible the determination of the Th/U ratio of the mineral to be dated. Durango apatite which is often employed in FTM as an age standard was analyzed. This apatite presented a fairly high Th/U ratio, 29.9 ± 1.7. Th fissions were 18%, 12% and 10% of the total for irradiations where thermal to fast neutron flux ratios were 2.4, 4.4 and 5.2, respectively. These results show that Th fission must be considered for this apatite, when not well-thermalized irradiation facilities are used. The ratio between spontaneous and induced track length, LS/LL, close to 0.89, indicates a certain amount of rejuvenation of the age of Durango apatite. Therefore, its "apparent" age should be corrected. The application of a technique based on track-length measurements produced a corrected age of 29.7 ± 1.1 Ma, consistent with the independent reference age of this apatite (31.4 ± 0.5 Ma). This result represents a support for viability of the neutron dosimetry approach studied in this work for FTM.
Start page
201
End page
211
Volume
187
Issue
April 3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Física nuclear
Química física
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-0036687779
Source
Chemical Geology
ISSN of the container
00092541
Sponsor(s)
We are grateful to Charles W. Naeser for providing some of the Durango apatite crystals employed in this work, and to Massimo Oddone (LENA reactor, Pavia, Italy), Agustin Zúñiga (IPEN rector, Lima, Peru) and Marina Koskinas (IPEN/CNEN reactor, São Paulo, Brazil) for performing the neutron irradiations used in this study. Three of us (P.J.I. C.A.T.S. and S.G.O) are grateful to FAPESP, the Research Foundation of São Paulo State, for financial support. We are very grateful to Franz De Corte and Günther A. Wagner for their helpful reviews and constructive comments and suggestions. We wish to dedicate this work to Cesar M.G. Lattes, who, for several years, recommended to us to test a neutron fluence measurement approach based on the same nuclear reactions that occur in the minerals to be dated with the fission–track method. [P.D.]
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo FAPESP
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus