Figure 3
Photographs and CT images and DECT material maps of bone samples from the calibration and the sediment-embedded test objects. In the horizontal, the objects are divided into marine and terrestrial animals and listed in order of their geological time periods. The photographs and the black dotted lines in the first row indicate the cross-sectional plane of the CT and DECT images of the respective object. The photograph of the Bos taurus leg bone was taken after bone fragment removal. In the second row, bone tissue is indicated with a black asterisk (*), and sediment is indicated with a black hashtag (#). DECT material maps show detected calcium (third row) and fluorine (fourth row) in the investigated specimens. Red indicates high concentrations of the investigated element measured in Hounsfield units (color bar in the right lower corner). As the Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex) and Nothosaurus sp. specimens were relatively large compared to the other specimens, additional axial planes are illustrated to show the calcium and fluorine distribution within the bone (a,b, respectively). The demonstrated axial plane of the T. rex specimen is at the level of the bone fragment, which was removed for invasive bone analysis, allowing for image-mass spectrometry correlation. White arrowheads indicate observed artefacts, partly caused by the attached metal frame (haemal arch of T. rex).
