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

这笔拨款为德克萨斯大学计算机x射线断层扫描（CT）设施的运行和维护提供了三年的持续部分支持，该设施是一个用于地球科学和辅助领域的国家多用户设施。该设施在过去两年中一直得到IF计划（EAR-9816020）的支持，该计划允许地球科学家获得资助，使用CT对地质样品内部进行无损成像。持续的支持将促进德克萨斯大学在地球科学的众多子领域中进一步使用CT扫描仪，包括脊椎动物古生物学、火成岩和变质岩石学、火山学、沉积学和地层学。高分辨率的CT图像将有助于我们了解哺乳动物和非哺乳动物物种的生理和进化，变质环境中的结晶过程，古代火山喷发的古海拔，地下流体流动和基本物质性质。在许多情况下，CT图像提供了前所未有的地质结构和骨骼遗骸的三维视图，否则人类观察将仍然模糊不清。＊＊＊

0004082CarlsonThis grant provides three years of continued partial support for the operation and maintenance of the University of Texas Computed X-ray Tomography (CT) Facility as a national multi-user facility for the geosciences and ancillary fields. This facility has been supported for the last two-years by the IF program (EAR-9816020) to allow geoscientists subsidized access to the capabilities of CT for non-destructive imaging of the interiors of geological samples. Continued support will foster further use of the CT scanner at UT for investigations in a multitude of sub-fields of the geosciences including, vertebrate paleontology, igneous and metamorphic petrology, volcanology, sedimentology and stratigraphy. High resolution CT imagery will aid our understanding of, the physiology and evolution of both mammalian and non-mammalian species, crystallization processes in metamorphic environments, the paleoelevation of ancient eruptions, subsurface fluid flow, and basic materials properties. In many cases, CT imagery offers unprecedented 3-D views of geologic structures and skeletal remains that otherwise would have remained obscured to human observation. ***