Fission track thermotectonic imaging of the Australian continent

Abstract

Fission track analyses of apatites from a very large data set across Australia provide a first look at the patterns of low-temperature thermochronology over an entire continent. The rock samples are mostly of granitic rocks, or their metamorphic equivalents, of Palaeozoic or older age from the exposed basement regions. Sample chemical analyses indicate that the apatite suite is overwhelmingly of fluorapatite composition. Approximately 2750 fission track analyses have been completed, of which > 1700 are of sufficient quality to form a coherent data set that can be interpolated to show the variation of central fission track age and mean confined track length on a continental scale. The resulti..