This award will provide one-half of the funds required to purchase a system for fission track dating to be installed and operated in the Department of Geological Sciences the University of Washington. The University of Washington is committed to providing the other half of the funds required. Fission track dating offers a relatively inexpensive optical microscope method for determining the cooling age of uranium- bearing minerals and is useful in reconstructions of volcanic history and the development of ancient sedimentary basins containing volcanic rocks.
