Institute for the Study
of Earth and Man

 


Scanning
Animation

Researchers used x-ray computed tomography to explore the bones inside the amber.
Click for animation.

 

  

Peering inside the amber

Click for: QuickTime Movie ( 565 KB)

During CT scanning, a radioactive source emits a fan beam of high energy x-rays. The varying densities of the bones, amber and other materials in the sample are measured by the X-ray detector. These variations are sampled while the specimen is rotated through 360 degrees. All of the stored scans are then integrated to produce individual 2-dimensional slices.

The process is completed for every slice of the specimen, producing essentially a three-dimensional array of density values. This array is then processed using a number of different techniques, all aimed at discovering boundry conditions such as amber-bone interface and other densities of interest, which are then reconstructed in three dimensions inside the computer.

 
     

Above are a few samples of the resultant 2-d slices. Variations in density representing bone, amber, air bubbles and other organic material, appear as differing shades of grey.

All of the data collection was done at the University of Texas at Austin, high resolution CT facility.

 

See inside
the amber!

Each layer of the CT scan forms a "slice" of the specimen, showing the location of bone within the slice. Click here to see an animation of the CT results, taking you through the skull from back to front. This animation is a .GIF file, and may take a moment to download.

The slices shown below at the left are taken from this movie.

  
           
   

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