Facility Support: High-Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography Laboratory

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

0004082 Carlson This grant provides three years of continued partial support for the operation and maintenance of the University of Texas Computed X-ray Tomography (CT) Facility as a national multi-user facility for the geosciences and ancillary fields. This facility has been supported for the last two-years by the IF program (EAR-9816020) to allow geoscientists subsidized access to the capabilities of CT for non-destructive imaging of the interiors of geological samples. Continued support will foster further use of the CT scanner at UT for investigations in a multitude of sub-fields of the geosciences including, vertebrate paleontology, igneous and metamorphic petrology, volcanology, sedimentology and stratigraphy. High resolution CT imagery will aid our understanding of, the physiology and evolution of both mammalian and non-mammalian species, crystallization processes in metamorphic environments, the paleoelevation of ancient eruptions, subsurface fluid flow, and basic materials properties. In many cases, CT imagery offers unprecedented 3-D views of geologic structures and skeletal remains that otherwise would have remained obscured to human observation. ***