Atomic force microscopy of fission tracks in fluorapatite and mica: A tool for nanoscale investigations

Climatic and oceanographic changes during the deposition of circum-Alpine Miocene marine sediments

“…In the present work, fission tracks were implanted in mica and fluorapatite using a 50 lCi 252 Cf source and imaged with an AFM.The use of a TEM for examination of tracks formed by fission particles can be problematic, because high energy deposition by the electron beam may anneal tracks during measurement (Paul and Fitzgerald, 1992). 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of most fossilized shark teeth indicate that the marginal seas adjacent to the emerging Alps had good connections to the open oceans.…”

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Geochemical compositions of Miocene marine fossils and their embedding sediments were investigated from a number of circum-Alpine localities in order to determine the changes in climate and oceanography during an active phase of Alpine upliftment. Recently, some researchers have applied the AFM to study etched tracks in solid-state nuclear track detectors (Nikezic and Yu, 2004).In our work we studied unetched fission tracks in micas and fluorapatite. However, some deviations from the Sr-evolution curve of the open ocean exist but can be related to a local influence by the hinterland lithologies.

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“…The use of a TEM for examination of tracks formed by fission particles can be problematic, because high energy deposition by the electron beam may anneal tracks during measurement (Paul and Fitzgerald, 1992). The advantage of an AFM is that no heat is produced and it can be used on both conducting and non-conducting surfaces.…”