Abstract: This study presents an experimental evaluation of the three dimensional (3D) microscale mineral mapping of synthetic multi-mineral powders. We show that X-ray micro-computed tomography (microCT) allows imaging and identification of micrometer-size granules of different minerals in 3D. The possibility of the application of microCT technique for natural samples such as geologic rocks and the limitations of the technique are discussed. The presented results clearly demonstrate that the micro-CT technique together with appropriate algorithms for 3D image processing and information about the total mineral content allow the characterization of mineral distribution inside many types of natural rocks.

KEYWORDS: micro-computed X-ray tomography / 3Dmapping / rocks / minerals / image analysis / image processing / anisotropic diffusion filter / edge-preserving smoothing

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