A NON-DESTRUCTIVE CORE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE USING X-RAYS'lZ

An X-ray techniqne has been developed \q7hich allows detailed sedimentological, stratigraphic, and struc-tural analyses ol cores ait t~out damaging tlie core liner or disturbing the core contents. The X-radiographs obtained hy this metl~od arc in\ralualrle ill tlvtermining the proper cutting orientation and sampling schelne to he used on the core. The techniclne utilizes an aluminum filter \vhich, pl:rced lengthwise over the cylindrical plastic litler of the core, cffrctivcl!. compensates for tile difierent~c in sediment thickness through wllicl ~ tlie X-rays penetr;~te. As a result of tllis compenqation, rndiogr:~plis show no change in resolution or contrast from the center to the edges of tlie core. This quick, easy, atld iuespensive method provides a cotnplete picture log of the core. The trchniqr~e allows rotation of tlic core;irnunti its longitudinal axis to any desirrd orientation so t l~at one ran acrurately recorrl the locatinns and tlimcnsiot~s of 5pccific particles, la~ninac, or structural features. ISTRODUCTION In 1967, Stanley and Blanchard devised a Sediment is retrieved from the sea bottom in method to analyze the whole core rather than plastic core liners. I t is only a f t e r the core has just a slicc. In their technique, "the dominant been split that some hint of the complexity of properties of a 5-m core can be recorded on