Making Geochemical Microanalytical Imagery Accessible and Reusable

Abstract

The production and use of 2D and 3D imagery in geochemistry and cosmochemistry is becoming pervasive due to advancements in analytical instrumentation that can quantitatively measure elemental concentrations and isotopic compositions of samples in-situ across large areas or at increasingly higher spatial resolution with methods such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron microprobe (EMP), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Complimenting and extending precise point analysis, these techniques now produce quantitative maps, which connect geochemical and textural data of the mineral phases in a sample. This combination of spatial imaging with microanalysis of features such as chondrules, melt inclusions, and the matrix results in a complete contextual understanding of a sample.

Current geochemistry data repositories are generally not equipped to host large volumes of images or provide users with tools to work with these images. There are however a growing number of domain specific repositories related to specific techniques (ex. x-ray computed tomography) or research fields (ex. meteoritics). Further, there are a growing number of commercial and research led software tools for exploring and comparing images in a given repository (i.e. SAMIS associated with OSIRIS-Rex or Zeiss Data Explorer). The increase in specialist repositories and query tools means that the microscopy data is now more Findable and potentially Interoperable than at any earlier time. In this presentation we will discuss the need to develop standards around the storage of microscopy data and its associated metadata in open file formats to ensure that these repositories are sharing data which is Accessible and Reusable.