Visualizing mineralization processes and fossil anatomy using synchronous synchrotron X-ray fluorescence and X-ray...

Area of Science:

• Paleontology
• Geochemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Fossils are primarily mineralized, offering insights into past life and preservation.
• Current methods often infer mineral composition indirectly, with X-ray diffraction underutilized.
• Soft tissue preservation in fossils is challenging to analyze mineralogically.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply a synchrotron-based method for simultaneous elemental and mineralogical mapping of fossils.
• To overcome limitations of indirect mineral composition analysis in fossil research.
• To visualize microscale mineral distribution and its relation to fossilized tissues.

Main Methods:

• Utilized synchrotron radiation for X-ray fluorescence (XRF) elemental mapping.
• Employed transmission X-ray diffraction with a 2D area detector for mineral phase identification.
• Applied the technique to fossil cross-sections and compressed specimens.

Main Results:

• Generated high-resolution elemental and mineralogical maps of fossils at the microscale.
• Identified and mapped mineral phases and their distribution across centimeter-sized areas.
• Obtained crystallographic information including texture, crystallite size, and local strain.

Conclusions:

• The new approach provides unprecedented detail on fossil mineralization sequences and environments.
• It aids in understanding preservation biases and reconstructing fossilization processes.
• This method has potential applications in studying other biomineralization processes and visualizing hidden fossil anatomies.