samplename [,flag] zeta [,zeta-err] rhoD [,rhoD-err] Ns(1) ,Ni(1) [,C(1)] Ns(2) ,Ni(2) [,C(1)] ... ... ... Ns(n) ,Ni(n) [,C(n)]
The input file begins with a mandatory sample name (or a blank line), followed by an optional flag. If the flag equals 'F' , the Fission Tracks option box in the Options → Input menu user is automatically selected. If not, then the user must make sure to check that the correct option is set.
The Fission Tracks setting implements the external detector method (Hurford and Green, 1983). The second line of the input file is the ζ (zeta) calibration constant and its (optional) standard error, both in cm yr2. To generate radial plots for ICP-MS-based fission track data (Hasebe et al., 2004), calculate the single-grain ages and use them as input to the Other option.
rhoD is the fission track density of a Uranium standard glass detector that was irradiated along with the sample, and its (optional) standard error, in cm-2.
The remainder of the input file contains n rows of fission track data: Ns = the number of spontaneous tracks (Ns), Ni = the number of induced fission tracks in the mica external detector (Ni), C = an optional parameter to be used for the colour code (NB: this option only applies to radial plots and not to density plots). This column can be used to show kinetic parameters such as Dpar (Donelick et al., 1999) or chlorine-content (Green et al., 1989). If C is omitted, the fill colour of the data points will be white.