AAPG Distinguished Lecturers Program Bright Lights and Dinosaurs: Trace metal mapping and Synchrotron-based imaging of Confuciusornis By Phillip Manning (Distinguished Lecturer) , Professor of Natural History & Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life, University of Manchester Chemical analysis has rarely been applied to vertebrate fossils; such as the exceptionally preserved 120 Mya Chinese bird Confuciusornis. Ideally such analysis would measure and map the chemistry of bone, soft tissue structures, and the embedding rock matrix. Mapping such a fossil in situ would place constraints on the mass transfer between embedding matrix and the preserved specimen, and therefore aid in distinguishing taphonomic processes from original chemical zonation remnant from the fossil itself. Conventional non-destructive analytical methods face serious problems in this case and most recent technological advances have been targeted at developing nanometer-scale rather than decimeter-scale capabilities. However, the recent development of Synchrotron Rapid Scanning X-ray Fluorescence (SRS-XRF) at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource now allows large specimens to be non-destructively analyzed and imaged using major, minor, and trace element concentrations, permitting the identification of endogenous and exogenous phases. - See more at: aapg.org/career/training/in-person/distinguished-lecturer/abstract/articleid/11549/bright-lights-and-dinosaurs-trace-metal-mapping-and-synchrotron-based-imaging-of-confuciusornis#sthash.vjk8xPYm.dpuf
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 18:42:49 +0000
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