Recently, I found a a very small (7 mm x 3 mm) piece of coalified Callixylon wood from the Upper Devonian Period. After searching a large pile of New Albany Shale in Clark County Indiana for a while, it was all I discovered. A little disappointed, I left the site but later studied the specimen with an optical microscope. To my surprise, it appeared the wood still had its ray lines intact.
After reading a section of Chapter 12 Progymnosperms in the book Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants by Thomas Taylor, Edith Taylor and Michael Krings, I determined Callixylon wood rays are constructed of ray tracheids and ray parenchyma. In figure 12.16 of the book displays a SEM image of pit membrane of tracheid and I wondered if such detail was still intact on one of these samples?
My microscope became ineffective after 100 times magnification to see something this small. What I needed was a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Yikes! Those cost a lot of money and I am not a research university or million dollar company. What to do?
Image compliments of ASPEX Corporation
1) Go to the ASPEX Corporation website and print this form.
2) Fill out the form and mail it along with the sample to be scanned:
ASPEX Corporation
Free Sample Submissions
175 Sheffield Dr.
Delmont, PA 15626
Free Sample Submissions
175 Sheffield Dr.
Delmont, PA 15626
3) Once ASPEX completes the scan, the images will be posted on their website here.
Note: It should take about 2-6 weeks (depending on work load) for the results to post to the ASPEX website. Submitters will be notified via e-mail. Be sure to note on the submission form if you want the sample returned.
While at the ASPEX web site, check out their Name That Sample contest with a chance to win a brand new Netbook.