EquipmentFT Lab:
Our fission-track lab comprises an Olympus BX-53 microscope, a Märzhäuser Tango X-Y-Z stage and the Olympus Stream software with a special plugin designed for fission-trackers. The setup also includes a high-resolution Olympus camera. Currently, we apply the external detector method in our lab, but our recently upgraded setup also enables FT dating via LA-ICP-MS (for U-content determination). However, we will apply this approach only after thorough testing. The pictures on this website show our old setup with a LUDL X-Y stage and a Calcomp drawing board. The above components were attached to a computer where positioning, grain selection, track counting, etc. was achieved by the FTS4 software of Prof. Trevor Dumitru. Unfortunately, that setup had always been problematic in our lab due to severe compatibility issues between the individual hardware elements and the software. Sample preparation: Throughout the previous years we put significant effort into setting up the entire sample preparation system, required for fission-track dating, heavy mineral analysis and K-Ar (Ar-Ar) dating. We use the following instruments and steps for sample preparation:
Software usedVarious software are available for plotting and evaluating raw fission-track data. In our lab TrackKey (Dunkl, 2002) and DensityPlotter (Vermeesch, 2012) are preferred, which can both be used for generating probability density plots, histograms and radial plots. Further specific plotting options and statistical information about the age data are available in each of the two software. Figures on the left were generated by TrackKey and R. The light blue and light green histograms are from our recent paper (Arató et al., 2021).
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Modelling
ZFT and AFT ages together with vitrinite reflectance data as well as AHe and ZHe ages can be used as input for thermal modelling. The most popular modelling software (developers in brackets) in thermochronology include HeFTy (Richard Ketcham), QTQt (Kerry Gallagher) and PeCube (Jean Braun). We have some experience with using HeFTy (see Arató et al., 2018) and plan to apply QTQt and maybe PeCube in the near future as well. The figure on the left is from Arató et al., (2018).
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References
Arató, R., Dunkl, I., Takács, Á., Szebényi, G., Gerdes, A., and von Eynatten, H., 2018. Thermal evolution in the exhumed basement of a stratovolcano: case study of the Miocene Mátra Volcano, Pannonian Basin. J. Geol. Soc., jgs2017-117.
Arató, R., Dunkl, I., Obbágy, G., Józsa, S., Lünsdorf, N. K., Szepesi, J., Molnár, K., Benkó, Zs., von Eynatten, H.: Multi-method comparison of modern river sediments in the Pannonian Basin System – a key to understand the provenance of sedimentary basin-fill, Global and Planetary Change, 199, 103446.
Dunkl, I., 2002. TRACKKEY: a Windows program for calculation and graphical presentation of fission track data. Comput. Geosci. 28, 3-12.
Vermeesch, P., 2012. On the visualisation of detrital age distributions. Chem. Geol. 312, 190-194.
Jasra, A., Stephens, D., Gallagher, K., and Holmes, C., 2006. Analysis of geochronological data with measurement error using Bayesian mixtures. Math. Geol. 38, 269-300.
Arató, R., Dunkl, I., Takács, Á., Szebényi, G., Gerdes, A., and von Eynatten, H., 2018. Thermal evolution in the exhumed basement of a stratovolcano: case study of the Miocene Mátra Volcano, Pannonian Basin. J. Geol. Soc., jgs2017-117.
Arató, R., Dunkl, I., Obbágy, G., Józsa, S., Lünsdorf, N. K., Szepesi, J., Molnár, K., Benkó, Zs., von Eynatten, H.: Multi-method comparison of modern river sediments in the Pannonian Basin System – a key to understand the provenance of sedimentary basin-fill, Global and Planetary Change, 199, 103446.
Dunkl, I., 2002. TRACKKEY: a Windows program for calculation and graphical presentation of fission track data. Comput. Geosci. 28, 3-12.
Vermeesch, P., 2012. On the visualisation of detrital age distributions. Chem. Geol. 312, 190-194.
Jasra, A., Stephens, D., Gallagher, K., and Holmes, C., 2006. Analysis of geochronological data with measurement error using Bayesian mixtures. Math. Geol. 38, 269-300.