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A Method For The Geometric Analysis Of Rugose Coral Growth Ridges As Paleoenvironmental Indicators In The Middle Devonian Hungry Hollow Member Of Widder Formation, Michigan Basin, Andrew Thomson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Skeletons of Devonian rugose corals feature submillimetre-scale growth ridges on their outer surface (epitheca) that record the successive positions of the coral polyp during longitudinal corallite growth. Specimens of rugose corals Eridophyllum and Cystiphylloides from the Hungry Hollow Member of the Middle Devonian Widder Formation were sectioned longitudinally and imaged by SEM, and image processing techniques were applied to extract a line representing the epithecal surface. Local extrema found through peak detection allowed growth ridges to be represented as simplified triangles, so that geometric measurements (area, length) could be related to coral growth and analyzed in reference to possible paleoenvironmental …