Determining gas bubble morphology and size distribution in mud using CT imagery Free

Sampling for the measurement and description of methane gas bubbles in situ was accomplished using the method of Abegg and Anderson [Mar. Geol. 137, 137–147 (1997)]. Sediment cores from East Bay, off the mouth of the Mississippi River, were collected by divers and placed into aluminum pressure transfer chambers while on the seafloor. With the cores at seafloor pressure within the chambers, they were transferred to an x‐ray computed tomography (CT) scanner where high‐resolution images were made of the sediment within the cores. Data, in the format of series of cross‐sectional images of x‐ray attenuation reconstructed in 3‐D, were evaluated in terms of spatial distribution, sizes, and shapes of bubbles. CT imagery was obtained from a GE LS medical CT scanner at a local hospital and the Naval Research Laboratory’s new HD‐500 industrial CT scanner specifically designed for core sample imaging. The medical scanner provided images of stationary cores at 625‐μm intervals with a rotating x‐ray source and was able to resolve bubbles down to 625 μm in diameter. The industrial scanner provided images of rotating cores at 25‐μm intervals with a stationary source and was able to resolve bubbles down to 10 μm in diameter.