FREE Scanning Electron Microscope Imaging from ASPEX

Yes, you read the title correctly.  ASPEX Corporation of Delmont, Pennsylvania is offering the public the chance to have an item imaged with their Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

Image compliments of ASPEX Corporation

According to their literature, an optical microscope achieves a usable image at magnification of 100 times and can go up to 1000 times (20 micrometers).  The ASPEX Personal Scanning Electron Microscope can image an object to 25 nanometers (nm) and has a scanning range of 100 nm to 5 mm.  They go on to stress the resolution is not the only variable to consider when analyzing a specimen.  SEMs provide a more depth-of-field than optical microscopes.

There are a wide range of applications SEMs can be used for and not just in the research laboratory.  ASPEX makes an application for forensics (e.g. like a real world CSI) specifically Gunshot Residue (GSR) analysis.  Other applications that can take advantage of SEM analysis: industrial production quality control, metal quality measurements, aerospace/defense maintenance prediction, and the pharmaceutical production.

All and all this is a great opportunity for amateur paleontologists.  I keep wondering what items would I like to see: foraminifera, scolecodont tooth, ridge in cornulite tube, small fluorite crystals, pyrite crystal, growth lines on modern snail shell, crinoid stem segment or a pore of a bryozoan.  So many possibilities in the microscopic world to explore!

One needs to remember that unlike optical microscopes, SEMs image in grayscale so no color output.

Well, I encourage those interested in exploring this generous offer made by ASPEX Corporation and check out the images already displayed at their website.

How to Participate in the "Send Us Your Sample" Campaign

1. Download and print this form from the ASPEX website.

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

3. Once ASPEX has completed the scan, the images and report will be posted on ASPEX's website here.

Note: It should take about 2 weeks [UPDATE: 05/17/2010 I received the results from the fossil of an Ordovician Period worm tube.  See the results at this post.] for the results to post to the ASPEX website, and the submitters will be notified via e-mail. If you want your sample returned, please say so on the submission form.

Remember to follow common sense on sending material to be scanned and also follow all postal regulations for shipping specimens through the mail.

Learn more about ASPEX Corporations Scanning Electron Microscopes by watching this video:

Acidaspis? Trilobite Fragments

After an earlier interpretation that these fossils may be worm jaw fragments, I have been pointed in the direction that these are trilobite fragments. It appears that the Kope Formation of the Upper Ordovician Period has some other small trilobites than just the Cryptolithus.  Two other tiny trilobites found in this formation are the Acidaspis and Meadowtownella (aka Primaspis).  The trilobites appear to be related to each other and were quite small and spiny.  These fragments all show small bumps and broken spines on their edges.  See Marc Behrendt article Trilobites of the Cincinnati Region on his website.

Also check out the Dry Dredgers website of Dan Cooper's Acidaspis photos at this web page.


Meadowtownella (aka Primaspis) trilobite images are on the Dry Dredgers website as well at this web page.

All images while not labeled are at 40x magnification.

 

  

 

 

Fossils were found in Carroll County, Kentucky.

MAPS 32nd Fossil Expo

The Mid-America Paleontology Society (MAPS) fossil expo is coming up March 26-28, 2010.  This society is one of the few who focus just on fossils.  Click on the logo above to visit their very nice website.  I like their color scheme and images.

Dr. Robert Frey of Ohio will give the talk The Age of Nautiloids in the American Midwest: The Platteville Fauna in Illinois and Wisconsin on Friday, March 26, 2010 at 7 PM.

Don "The Fossil Guy" Johnson will discuss Laura the Hypacrosaurus and Other Duck-billed Dinosaurs on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 10 AM.

 MAPS member Bill Desmarais on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 11 AM will present a program about dinosaur research expeditions in Alberta, Canada.

University of Iowa professor Charles Newsom will help visitors with their fossil identification at 2 PM on Saturday, March 27, 2010.

Curator of University of Iowa Geoscience Repository will talk about storing, organizing, protecting, and documenting a fossil collection at 3 PM on Saturday, March 27, 2010.

It looks like a great expo to attend if you can!