Applying microCT and 3D visualization to Jurassic silicified conifer seed cones: A virtual advantage over thin-sectioning.

ABSTRACT: As an alternative to conventional thin-sectioning, which destroys fossil material, high-resolution X-ray computed tomography (also called microtomography or microCT) integrated with scientific visualization, three-dimensional (3D) image segmentation, size analysis, and computer animation is explored as a nondestructive method of imaging the internal anatomy of 150-million-year-old conifer seed cones from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation, USA, and of recent and other fossil cones. • MicroCT was carried out on cones using a General Electric phoenix v|tome|x s 240D, and resulting projections were processed with visualization software to produce image stacks of serial single sections for two-dimensional (2D) visualization, 3D segmented reconstructions with targeted structures in color, and

SUBMITTER: Gee CT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4103457 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature