Annealing behaviour of alpha-recoil tracks in biotite mica: Implications for alpha-recoil dating method

Abstract

Annealing behaviour of fossil alpha-recoil tracks (α-RTs) in biotite mica is studied, and it is found that the α-RTs anneal much more easily than fission tracks when subjected to elevated temperatures. Using the Arrhenius plot, an activation energy of 1.4 eV is found for 100% removal of α-RTs, which is less than the corresponding value for fission tracks in the same mineral. Implications of these results for the alpha-recoil track dating method are discussed.