Digital Reconstruction of Fossils from Serial Sections

Some fossils can be removed from rocks with just your fingers.  Others need to be extracted with a pick.  Still others are so recrystallized that they can’t possibly be removed.  In this study, we took digital pictures of highly recrystallized fossils every millimeter and taught a computer how to distinguish between the fossils and the matrix.  The computer was then able to reconstruct 3-dimensional models of what the fossil would look like if it were freed of the rock.

This project was presented at the annual meeting
of the Geological Society of America!