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Paleontology typically relies on manual, time-consuming
and destructive techniques to visualize internal structures of fossil specimens.
The availability, speed, and high resolution of fourth generation medical
CT scanners, have proven to be exciting tools in the non-destructive evaluation
of ancient organisms.
The workstations associated with the medical units are limited in
their ability to analyze large datasets, and are "tuned" to human
body protocols. Using a powerful visualization program, Vistool (of the
Shastra laboratory)*,
and a Silicon Graphics Indigo workstation, we are not only able to view
the CT data in detail, but to manipulate and highlight structures of interest.
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| Some examples are: |
| Dendroolithus sp. |
Single slice of a dinosaur egg from the Kaoguo formation, Xixia Basin,
Henan Province, China. The specimen is late Cretaceous in age. Shell morphology,
by thin section, is the basis for taxonomic classification. |
| Rhynchonellide |
Specimen is from Iran and is Upper Triassic in age. 3D reconstruction
of this brachiopod and its brachidium or loop structure, allows us to evaluate
it, in detail, non-destructively. Specimen itself is roughly 2.5 cm wide
x 3.0 cm in length x 1.5 cm thick.
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One of the benefits of using Vistool, is to "slide" through
the slices inside the shell along any axis.
 x-axis
 y-axis
 z-axis
These were produced by going a step further after Vistool. The computer
made separate objects or files, of iso-valued structures. We were then
able to call each of these in and adjust colors and opacity to highlight
internal structures in relation to the external shell.
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Looking straight on the posterior, along the
commissural plane. The end has been nipped off, accidently, by not going
"air to air" in the scan protocol. |
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Looking through the dorsal to the ventral valve. Again,
a portion has been nipped off by the scan protocol. |
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Looking at an oblique angle to the posterior. |
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