X-RAY MICROSCOPY AND COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC APPLICATIONS IN PALEONTOLOGY

The commercial availability of X-ray computed tomography (CT) reached its 50-year anniversary this year. While this technology was originally developed with the medical community in mind, geologists and paleontologists were quick to take advantage of the emerging technique and have continued to revolutionize its applications in the field. One of the first studies to do so, less than a decade after the technique became available, analyzed the cross-sectional geometry of intact fossil long bones of extinct primates, directly comparing them to modern humans (Jungers and Minns, 1979). This study demonstrated the utility of CT in paleontological applications, and through technological advances and a new generation of imaging techniques, it continues to present new horizons by providing non-destructive, three-dimensional, external and internal views of a vast diversity of samples. Owing to the non-invasive nature of CT, rare or museum quality samples can be examined without destruction. With relatively recent technological advancements and development of high quality optics, higher spatial resolution (to the sub-micrometer scale) has become achievable through X-ray computed tomographic microscopy (µCT). With these improvements in technology, ease of use, and expanding access to such instruments, µCT is rapidly becoming established as a cornerstone in the world of digital/virtual paleontology. In this presentation, we use a variety of examples from work conducted at the MizzoµX Core Facility for X-ray Microanalysis at the University of Missouri Department of Geological Sciences to provide a brief tour of historical CT applications, discuss recent advancements in the technology, and illustrate benefits of combined, multi-technique approaches in analyses. Specifically, both published and unpublished fossil and biological materials will be used to illustrate the benefits, ambitions, and pitfalls of CT-based analyses in paleontological research.