Resumen de Preface: Future potential and limitations of fission-track analysis
Fission-track (FT) analysis has demonstrated powerfully its utility in an extensive range o f applications deciphering time and temperature in Earth s upper crustal rocks and in reconstructing the timing and rate o f surface processes. A conservative estimate o f FT publications in 2000 suggests a 4-fold increase over published papers in 1990, whilst the number o f laboratories has effectively doubled over the last decade.
From a Cinderella dating method o f the 1960s and 70s, FT analysis has undergone a major renaissance primarily through the technique s ability to record an integrated thermal history with each track recording the maximum temperature that it has experienced. Coincidence o f the track stability temperatures (over geological time) with those o f upper crustal processes o f major interest, and with temperatures for kerogen maturation has promoted collaboration with many areas o f academic geoscience as well as with the hydrocarbons industry.
