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

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

EAR-0345710 Carlson This project supports continued operation of the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (UTCT). UTCT provides geoscience investigators with tomographic imaging and analysis services - the industrial equivalent of medical CAT scanning, but using higher-energy X-rays, higher-resolution detectors, and longer dosage times. Three-dimensional tomographic imagery of the interiors and exteriors of rocks, fossils, meteorites and other materials allows both qualitative and quantitative characterization of these objects, producing unique opportunities for their visualization and measurement. These results will continue to drive scientific advances across the full spectrum of the earth sciences, including petrology, paleontology, structural geology, hydrology, geophysics, meteoritics, and economic and petroleum geology. Applications in biology, anthropology, and engineering are also actively supported by UTCT. Each year the facility will support the research efforts of scores of investigators from across the nation, including both students and established scientists from academic, industrial, and governmental institutions. At the same time, UTCT will maintain state-of-the-art capabilities and continue developing new means and methods to optimize and exploit CT imagery for scientific research. It will carry on in its role as a research crossroads, where interaction, collaboration, and intellectual cross-fertilization are fostered among investigators working on diverse problems that share mutual solutions. ***