Conference proceeding
Facilitating identification of poorly preserved marine microfossils through 3D printing
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Vol.2016
Dec 2016
Abstract
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a period of sudden and intense global warming that occurred nearly equal 56 Myr, and is widely considered a possible analogue for future climatic changes. Marine microfossils are important proxies used in the reconstruction of PETM paleoenvironments and paleoclimate. The correct species-level identification of foraminifera and pteropod specimens is necessary to understand ocean temperature, chemistry, nutrient availability, and ecosystem structure during this hyperthermal event. During periods of extreme or rapid environmental perturbations foraminifera can be poorly preserved. Pteropod identification is equally challenging as aragonitic shells are vulnerable to changing ocean acidity and often only internal molds are left to be identified. The macroscopic rendering of the internal and external test morphology of marine microfossils via 3D printing allows for a more experiential species-recognition education, especially of difficult to identify specimens. A selected microfossil specimen is scanned using computerized tomography (CT), creating x-ray slices of the specimen that are then processed into a digital model. The digitized fossil can then be analyzed using 3D software and subsequently printed using a wide variety of materials. The magnified model can be easily manipulated in a student's hand, and thus can be studied in a more visible and tactile way than traditional methods allow. This invaluable teaching tool physically manifests what was previously limited to textbook images and illustrations or the view field of a microscope. We show the step-by-step 3-D printing process of several PETM marine microfossil specimens from CT scans and demonstrate their advantage over 2-D SEM images for learning to identify microfossils to the species level. In addition, we provide samples to demonstrate the utility of 3-D models in identifying poorly preserved foraminifer specimens and species of pteropods from internal molds.
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Details
- Title
- Facilitating identification of poorly preserved marine microfossils through 3D printing
- Creators
- R. V. Christensen - United States Geological SurveyM. M. RobinsonJ. SessaAnonymous
- Publication Details
- American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Vol.2016
- Conference
- American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (2016)
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Identifiers
- 991021013171904721