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Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones

Laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) has seen increased use in palaeontological investigations in recent years. The method uses the high flux of laser light of visible wavelengths to reveal details sometimes missed by traditional long-wave ultraviolet (UV) methods using a lamp. In this study, we comp...

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Autores principales: Barlow, Luke A., Pittman, Michael, Butcher, Anthony, Martill, David M., Kaye, Thomas G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8692964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34950496
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211601
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author Barlow, Luke A.
Pittman, Michael
Butcher, Anthony
Martill, David M.
Kaye, Thomas G.
author_facet Barlow, Luke A.
Pittman, Michael
Butcher, Anthony
Martill, David M.
Kaye, Thomas G.
author_sort Barlow, Luke A.
collection PubMed
description Laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) has seen increased use in palaeontological investigations in recent years. The method uses the high flux of laser light of visible wavelengths to reveal details sometimes missed by traditional long-wave ultraviolet (UV) methods using a lamp. In this study, we compare the results of LSF with UV-A-generated fluorescence on a range of fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone Konservat-Lagerstätte of Bavaria, Germany. The methodology follows previous protocols of LSF with modifications made to enhance laser beam intensity, namely keeping the laser at a constant distance from the specimen, using a camera track. Our experiments show that along with making surface details more vivid than UV-A or revealing them for the first time, LSF has the additional value of revealing shallow subsurface specimen detail. Fossil decapods from the Solnhofen Limestone reveal full body outlines, even under the matrix, along with details of segmentation within the appendages such as limbs and antennae. The results indicate that LSF can be used on invertebrate fossils along with vertebrates and may often surpass the information provided by traditional UV methods.
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spelling pubmed-86929642021-12-22 Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones Barlow, Luke A. Pittman, Michael Butcher, Anthony Martill, David M. Kaye, Thomas G. R Soc Open Sci Earth and Environmental Science Laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) has seen increased use in palaeontological investigations in recent years. The method uses the high flux of laser light of visible wavelengths to reveal details sometimes missed by traditional long-wave ultraviolet (UV) methods using a lamp. In this study, we compare the results of LSF with UV-A-generated fluorescence on a range of fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone Konservat-Lagerstätte of Bavaria, Germany. The methodology follows previous protocols of LSF with modifications made to enhance laser beam intensity, namely keeping the laser at a constant distance from the specimen, using a camera track. Our experiments show that along with making surface details more vivid than UV-A or revealing them for the first time, LSF has the additional value of revealing shallow subsurface specimen detail. Fossil decapods from the Solnhofen Limestone reveal full body outlines, even under the matrix, along with details of segmentation within the appendages such as limbs and antennae. The results indicate that LSF can be used on invertebrate fossils along with vertebrates and may often surpass the information provided by traditional UV methods. The Royal Society 2021-12-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8692964/ /pubmed/34950496 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211601 Text en © 2021 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Earth and Environmental Science
Barlow, Luke A.
Pittman, Michael
Butcher, Anthony
Martill, David M.
Kaye, Thomas G.
Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones
title Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones
title_full Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones
title_fullStr Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones
title_full_unstemmed Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones
title_short Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones
title_sort laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals unseen details in fossils from the upper jurassic solnhofen limestones
topic Earth and Environmental Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8692964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34950496
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211601
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