Hyperspectral imaging: a novel, non-destructive method for investigating sub-annual sediment structures and composition

The quest for maximizing the resolution of long paleoenvironmental data sets from sedimentary archives has prompted rapid developments in analytical methods and techniques.Non-destructive scanning techniques such as X-ray radiography and computer tomography of sediment structures and density, and scanning micro-X-ray fluorescence (µXrF) to map elemental composition are now widely used.Other powerful, although still less well-known methods are digital image analysis and color codes (e.g.CIELAB color space; Debret et al. 2011), and scanning multi-channel reflectance spectroscopy in the visible and near infrared range (typically 380-1000 nm).These techniques are used to identify organic substances and minerals in sediments on the basis of their diagnostic color absorption properties.