Refine your search:     
Report No.
 - 

Termination criterion of step-etching in monazite fission-track thermochronometry; Toward the realization of etching of various characteristic monazites

Fukuda, Shoma   ; Nakajima, Toru   ; Suzuki, Ayase*; Sueoka, Shigeru   ; Tagami, Takahiro*

The monazite fission-track method has been expected to be a powerful tool as an ultra-low temperature (below 50 degrees Celcius) thermochronometers. Jones et al., (2019) proposed the optimum for the MFT etching (6 M HCl at 90 degrees of Celcius for 60-90 min) by using 252Cf-derived semi-tracks of the Devonian monazite. In our preliminary experiments, spontaneous tracks in the Cretaceous monazites of Japan were successfully etched within 90-120 min as FT densities attain a plateau. However, Quaternary monazites in Japan yielded few and very thin (i.e., under-etched) spontaneous tracks even after step-etching for 600 min. Our results from Raman spectrometry and EPMA analyses suggested that less-damaged monazites tend to require a longer etching time. Therefore, we proposed a termination criterion for MFT step-etching: to etch until the thinnest track width reaches approximately 1.0 $$pm$$ 0.5 micron, similar to zircon FT step-etching. This 1-micon width criterion is valid regardless of monazite characteristics, e.g., radiation damage and chemistry.

Accesses

:

- Accesses

InCites™

:

Altmetrics

:

[CLARIVATE ANALYTICS], [WEB OF SCIENCE], [HIGHLY CITED PAPER & CUP LOGO] and [HOT PAPER & FIRE LOGO] are trademarks of Clarivate Analytics, and/or its affiliated company or companies, and used herein by permission and/or license.