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CT Analysis and 3D Visualization of Marine Sediment Communities
Computer Aided Tomography (CT) is a cost-effective tool for the qualitative and quantitative study of marine sediment communities along a pollution gradient (Perez et al. 1999). Recently we have advanced the capability of this technology to visualize and discriminate in three-dimension (3D) gas, water, macrofaunal tubes and tunnels, sediment, shell, and rock within sediment cores. In this web page we illustrate the steps, from sampling to analysis, that are involved to accomplish this. We also present 3D animations of some of the objects that can be imaged within sediments. The first 3D animation (Video 1) is presented as an example.
| Video 1 is a 3D animation of the numerous and deep sediment tubes primarily constructed by marine "bamboo worms" (Maldanidae) which occurred within a sediment core from the West Branch of the Westport River Estuary, MA, USA. To view this video, please read the instructions below. |  |
Instructions for viewing hyper-linked terms, photographs and videos:
1. Throughout this web page there are 3D animations of CT scanned sediment cores accompanied by text descriptors. To view the videos, click on the "Play Video" icon. A static video image will be displayed. Click on this image to activate a 360-degree presentation of that image. To return to the web page, if you are using a Microsoft media player, click the Back key above web page on the left-hand side. However, if you are using an Apple media player, either click File in upper left corner and then Exit or click the X in the upper right corner to return to the web page.
2. Clicking on the colored, under-lined and hyper-linked terms will bring you to a definition of the term in the Glossary. After viewing definitions, to get back to the text click the Back key above the web page on the left-hand side.
3. The size of the photographs or figures can only be enlarged if they are first saved as a separate file and then viewed and magnified in a photo editor.
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