Applications of computerized tomography in sedimentology

A medical computerized X‐ray body scanner was successfully used as a tool in the study of cores of fine‐grained, water‐saturated, deep‐sea sediments. Computerized tomography creates two‐dimensional matrices of absorption values of the scanned slice, expressed in a relative linear density unit, the Hounsfield unit. For relative homogeneous marine sediments it is then possible to calibrate and convert the Hounsfield density scale into actual density, bulk density, in g/cm3. Computerized tomography is a quick and nondestructive method that is of use for the determination and quantitative interpretation of X‐ray‐absorbing structures and fabrics in cores from marine sediments.