Suitability of glauconite for fission track dating

Fission track (F-T) etching conditions, dating and U-concentrations of glauconite, an authigenic sedimentary mineral, are presented here. A mixture of 98% sulphuric acid, 48% hydrofluoric acid and distilled water in the proportion 1:2:4 was used to etch fission tracks in glauconite. The developed tracks have a conical needle shape similar to those in apatite but of shorter length. Optimum etch time has been found to be 35 min using the above etchant at room temperature (25degC). F-T ages of 87 and 680 m.y. determined for separated glauconite crystals respectively from Lameta beds of Jabalpur and green sandstone bed of Newari, District Mirzapur, are in good agreement with geological ages assigned to these strata. U-concentrations in the samples are obtained as 125 and 33 ppb respectively. (author)