E.T. Lamm using the Buehler PetroThin Machine.
Museum of the Rockies Paleohistology Process
Fossil material is embedded in resin, sectioned with diamond-bladed saws, mounted onto glass slides, and ground and polished until thin enough for light to reveal the exquisitely preserved microscopic structure.
Fossil material is embedded in resin, sectioned with diamond-bladed saws, mounted onto glass slides, and ground and polished until thin enough for light to reveal the exquisitely preserved microscopic structure.
1. OBTAIN SPECIMEN
Carefully extracting a sample from a dinosaur on display.
2. SPECIMEN PREPARATION
Molding the specimen to produce a cast to replace or restore the original fossil.
3. EMBEDDING
Vacuum embedding the specimen in plastic resin.
4. CUTTING
Trimming the block and cut thin wafers of embedded bone using a diamond-edged blade on a tile saw.
5. MOUNTING
Mounting a thin cut wafer of embedded bone onto a frosted glass slide with epoxy glue.
6. GRINDING AND POLISHING
Following rough grinding - using fine grain aluminum oxide to polish all scratches out of a mounted section.
7. EXAMINATION
Dr. Jack Horner using a polarized-light microscope to examine a thin-section slide.
