Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

Standardization and Calibration of X-Radiographs Acquired with the ITRAX Core Scanner

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores

Part of the book series: Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research ((DPER,volume 17))

Abstract

A calibration procedure that uses a radiographic reference sample (RRS) to compensate for instrumental, time- and sample-related variations encountered with Itrax X-radiographs is introduced. This RRS is always included whenever a core section is run on the Itrax and it allows radiographs to be standardized. This allows different cores to be compared ultimately leading to increased efficiency, cost saving and scientific value. A standardization protocol is presented that corrects for X-ray tube output (ageing), different acquisition settings and sediment core properties (diameter and material). This allows for the direct comparison and accurate concatenation of radiographic images from long sequences. Other Itrax laboratories using an identical RRS can also share radiographic data. The standardized X-ray attenuation profiles from the Itrax compare very well with attenuation profiles obtained by CT-scan, a technology providing attenuation values very close to density and not influenced by sample thickness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Note that grey-level values are somewhat arbitrary like “RSS ladder steps” as both are instrument dependent.

References

  • Besonen MR (2006) A 1,000 year high-resolution hurricane history for the Boston area based on the varved sedimentary record from the Lower Mystic Lake (Medford/Arlington, MA). Ph.D. thesis

    Google Scholar 

  • Besonen MR, Patridge W, Bradley RS, Francus P, Stoner JS, Abbott MB (2008) A record of climate over the last millennium based on varved lake sediments from the Canadian High Arctic. Holocene 18(1):169–180. doi:10.1177/0959683607085607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boespflug X, Long BFN, Occhietti S (1995) Cat-scan in marine stratigraphy—a quantitative approach. Mar Geol 122(4):281–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouma AH (1964) Notes on X-ray interpretation of marine sediments. Mar Geol 2:278–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chhem RK, Brothwell DR (2007) Paleoradiology: imaging mummies and fossils. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Cremer JF, Long B, Desrosiers G, de Montety L, Locat J (2002) Application of scanography to sediment density analysis and sediment structure characterization: case of sediments deposited in the Saguenay River (Quebec, Canada) after the July 1996 flood. Can Geotech J 39(2):440–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croudace IW, Rindby A, Rothwell RG (2006) ITRAX: description and evaluation of a new multi-function X-ray core scanner. In: Rothwell RG (ed) New Techniques in Sediment Core Analysis, vol 267. Geological Society of London Special Publication. pp 51–63

    Google Scholar 

  • de Montety L, Long B, Desrosiers G, Crémer J-F, Locat J, Stora G (2003) Utilisation de la scanographie pour l’étude des sédiments: influence des paramètres physiques, chimiques et biologiques sur la mesure des intensités tomo- graphiques. Can Geotech J 40:937–948

    Google Scholar 

  • Duchesne MJ, Moore F, Long BF, Labrie J (2009) A rapid method for converting medical computed tomography scanner topogram attenuation scale to hounsfield unit scale and to obtain relative density values. Eng Geol 103(3–4):100–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin D, Francus P, Gebhardt AC, Hahn A, Kliem P, Lisé-Pronovost A, Roychowdhury R, Labrie J, St-Onge G, Team PS (2013) Destructive and non-destructive density determination: method comparison and evaluation from the Laguna Potrok Aike sedimentary record. Quat Sci Rev 71:147–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fosbinder R, Kelsey C (2002) Essentials of radiologic science. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Golstein J, Newbury D, Joy D, Lyman C, Echlin P, Lifshin E, Sawyer L, Michael J (2003) Scanning electron microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hamblin WMK (1962) X-ray radiography in the study of structures in homogeneous sediments. J Sed Petrol 32:201–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Hounsfield GN (1973) Computerized transverse axial scanning (tomography). Br J Radiol 46:1016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsieh J (2003) Computed tomography: principles, design, artifacts, and recent advances. Collections: SPIE Press monograph PM114. SPIE Press, Bellingham

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson PD, Briggs KB, Flint RC (1996) Evaluation of sediment heterogeneity using microresistivity imaging and X-radiography. Geo-Mar Lett 16:219–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jansen JHF, Van der Gaast SJ, Koster B, Vaars AJ (1998) CORTEX, a shipboard XRF-scanner for element analyses in split sediment cores. Mar Geol 151:143–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanamaru K, Francus P, François R, Besonen M, Laj C (2013) New insight into Saanich Inlet varved sediments (British Columbia, Canada) from micro-scale analysis of sedimentary facies and micro-XRF core scanning analyses. J Geol Soc Swed (Geologiska Foreningen, GFF) 135(3–4):316–339

    Google Scholar 

  • Migeon S, Weber O, Faugeres JC, Saint-Paul J (1999) SCOPIX: a new X-ray imaging system for core analysis. Geo-Mar Lett 18:251–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagy EA, Valet J-P (1993) New advances for paleomagnetic studies of sediment cores using U-channels. Geophys Res Lett 20:671–674

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nederbragt AJ, Thurow JW (2001) A 6000 year varve record of holocene climate in saanich Inlet, British Columbia, from digital sediment colour analysis of ODP Leg 169S cores. Mar Geol 174:95–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohlendorf C, Gebhardt C, Hahn A, Kliem P, Zolitschka B (2011) The PASADO core processing strategy—A proposed new protocol for sediment core treatment in multidisciplinary lake drilling projects. Sediment Geol 239:104–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ojala AEK (2004) Application of X-Ray radiography and densitometry in varve analysis. In: Francus P (ed) Image analysis, sediments and paleoenvironments. Developments in paleoenvironmental research, vol 7. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, pp 187–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Ojala AEK, Francus P, Zolitschka B, Besonen M, Lamoureux SF (2012) Characteristics of sedimentary varve chronologies—A review. Quat Sci Rev 43:45–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petterson G, Odgaard BV, Renberg I (1999) Image analysis as a method to quantify sediment components. J Paleolimn 22:443–455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Principato S (2004) X-Ray radiographs of sedimenr cores: a guide to analysing diamicton. In: Francus P (ed) Image analysis, sediments and paleoenvironments, developments in paleoenvironmental research. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasband WS (1997–2012) ImageJ. U. S. National Institutes of Health. http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/. Accessed 19 Aug 2013

  • Rockley J (1964) An introduction to industrial radiology. Butterworths, London

    Google Scholar 

  • St-Onge G, Mulder T, Francus P, Long B (2007) Continuous physical properties of cored marine sediments. In: Hillaire-Marcel C, De Vernal A (eds) Developments in marine geology, vol 1. Elsevier, Amsterdam pp 63–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Stow DAV, Townsend MR (1990) X-ray techniques and observations on distal Bengal Fan sediments cored during Leg 116. Proc, scientific results, ODP, Leg 116, distal Bengal Fan: 5–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Zolitschka B, Mingram J, van der Gaast S, Jansen JHF, Naumann R (2001) Sediment logging techniques. In: Last WM, Smol JP (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments: physical and chemical techniques. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, pp 137–153

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Jean-François Crémer, Arnaud De Coninck and Philippe Nobert for technical assistance. We also thank Ian Croudace, Guy Rothwell and Cox analytical system for organizing the workshop that initiated this work. We thank the IMAGES VIII (International Marine Past Global Changes Study) program and Dr. Carlo Laj of the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’environnement who provided access to the Saanich Inlet sediment core. U-channels from lacustrine sediments were provided by the PASADO (Potrok Aike Maar Lake Sediment Archive Drilling Project) supported by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), the German Science Foundation (DFG), the Swiss National Funds (SNF), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Swedish Vetenskapsradet (VR) and the University of Bremen. The Itrax core scanner was funded by a grant to Pierre Francus and Isabelle Larocque from the Canadian Foundation of Innovation. This research was supported by several grants of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to PF. We thank Guillaume St-Onge and Jacques Labrie for providing the Matlab routine used to produce the high-resolution topograms.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre Eau Terre Environnement, G1K 9A9, Québec, QC, Canada

    Pierre Francus & David Fortin

  2. GEOTOP Research Centre, H3C 3P8, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Pierre Francus

  3. Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Morrill Science Center, 611 North Pleasant Street, 01003–9297, Amherst, MA, USA

    Kinuyo Kanamaru

Authors
  1. Pierre Francus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kinuyo Kanamaru
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David Fortin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pierre Francus .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton Waterfront Campus, Southampton, United Kingdom

    Ian W. Croudace

  2. National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom

    R. Guy Rothwell

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Francus, P., Kanamaru, K., Fortin, D. (2015). Standardization and Calibration of X-Radiographs Acquired with the ITRAX Core Scanner. In: Croudace, I., Rothwell, R. (eds) Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9849-5_20

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation