Skeletracks: automatic separation of overlapping fission tracks in apatite and muscovite using image processing

TL;DR

This paper presents Skeletracks, an image processing method that automatically separates overlapping fission tracks in minerals, improving accuracy in track counting for geological dating.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel image processing algorithm combining skeletonization and binarization techniques to automatically separate overlapping fission tracks.

Findings

Successfully applied to apatite and muscovite samples.

Accurately determined the efficiency factor GQR.

Enhanced automatic track counting accuracy.

Abstract

One of the major difficulties of automatic track counting using photomicrographs is separating overlapped tracks. We address this issue combining image processing algorithms such as skeletonization, and we test our algorithm with several binarization techniques. The counting algorithm was successfully applied to determine the efficiency factor GQR, necessary for standardless fission-track dating, involving counting induced tracks in apatite and muscovite with superficial densities of about $6 \times 10^5$ tracks/$cm^2$.