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Journal of the Geological Society

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Proposed methods for correcting external detector fission track counts for tracks lost during etching

¹ Bullard Laboratories, Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge, CB3 0EZ, UK
² R. B. Hawkins & Associates, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 4FE, UK
³ Churchill College, Cambridge CB3 0DS, UK

The ways in which minerals and mica detectors respond to chemical etching are described. While tracks with angles of inclination less than a critical value will be lost from minerals, a steady state is reached. With continued etching all tracks in an external detector can be destroyed. Methods are proposed and numerical expressions presented by which the number of tracks lost during etching external mica detectors can be determined. An example of the process applied to automatically counted tracks in an external mica detector is given.