New method for studying the pore structure of Late Cretaceous dinosaur eggshell

Autor: Focsaneanu Cristian, Universty of Bucharest, Laboratory of Paleontology, 1, N.

Balcescu Ave., 010041, Bucharest, Romania, PhD student.
Coordonator: profesor dr. Dan Grigorescu, Universty of Bucharest, Laboratory of
Paleontology, 1, N. Balcescu Ave., 010041, Bucharest, Romania
ABSTRACT
Consecutive slices of dinosaur eggshells represent a promising approach to determine temperatures and
humidity in the nesting areas during incubation. As was argued by Grigorescu et al. (1994), temperature
and humidity of the nesting site correlate with the distribution and volume of the pores in the eggshell, via
an estimation of gas, water and heat exchange.
In order to estimate the porosity, a 3D model of the shell is built, based on a computer-aided analysis of
its microstructure. This method requires first consecutive tangential sections of an eggshell fragment at
the highest possible resolution. Each section is polished and scanned. The resulting images are
superposed using a standard 3D rendering software, which allows the construction of an exact 3D model
of the eggshell fragment sectioned.
INTRODUCTION
Previous studies of the pore microstructure of the megaloolithid eggshells were done through tangential
and radial sections through the eggshell fragments. Attempts to reveal the detailed microstructure of the
pores were conducted by Grigorescu et al. (1994) by making serial slices trough the eggshell fragments
which allowed the tracking of individual pores through the thickness of the shell. Their conclusions were
mainly based on statistical methods. The work presented here represents a new and more precise
approach to this aim, which results in building a computer-based three-dimensional model of the eggshell
fragment. This model should help in the understanding of the eggshell pore system, and should further
allow a more precise calculation of the water and gas transfer in order to better understand the
environment in which the eggs were laid.
MATERIAL
The material used comes from two Upper Cretaceous sites from the Hateg Basin in western Romania. The
shells were found in floodplain deposits. Material from Tustea was found in red mudstone; and consists of
fragments from hatched eggs, crushed prior to burial. The shells from Totesti were in a dark-grey
mudstone, probably also from hatched eggs.
The serial slices that were previously created consisted of ten sections through the thickness of the shell
(about 2mm thick), at a distance of 0.5 mm for each slice. The model here attempted is based on about
forty sections through the 2mm shell thickness, at a distance of 0.05 mm each.
METHOD
After mounting the shell fragments in epoxy resin, they were polished and scanned with an ordinary
scanner at a high resolution (1200dpi). This was repeated about forty times, until the whole thickness of
the eggshell was consumed.
This resulted in 40 successive images (Fig. 5). Pictures from the Tustea shell fragment (Fig. 1 and 2) were
clear enough and the scanned image offered enough contrast between the pore filling and the shell units,
for these images to be subjected to further work (Fig. 2). Using software specially created for digital
image preparation a color mask was applied to the shell units which were then colored in black. In some
cases the color mask required manual corrections. For the first and last few slices the shell units were
defined manually because the resin, which interfered due to the differences in the relief of the surfaces,
prevented the use of the mask. The final step in working with individual images was to convert them into
two color images: white for pores and black for shell units (Fig. 6).

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Fig. 1. Shell fragment from Tustea before

preparation: A external, B internal, C tangential
view, D tangential view (shell units are figured
in black).

Fig. 2. Different stages in preparing the

pictures: A original scanned image of the
polished surface, B the image with the colored
mask applied, C the final image (only the black
mask representing the shell units) used for
rendering the 3D model.

LIMITATIONS OF THE METHOD FOR THE TOTESTI SHELL FRAGMENT

The Totesti shell fragment (Fig. 3) has a darker color and is derived from a dark-grey mudstone. This
combination of circumstances resulted in extremely poor contrast between pores and shell units (Fig. 4),
and scanned images of each polished surface were not good enough to clearly define the pore/unit
boundary. In addition to the poor contrast problem, the pores are more discreet (i.e. they have a smaller
diameter) in the shells from Totesti. These problems were overcome by taking acetate peels of each
surface. Photographing the peels and building the 3D model will be the subject of subsequent studies.

Fig. 3. Shell fragment from Totesti before

preparation: A external view, B internal view.

Fig. 4. Scanned image of the polished surface

of the shell fragment from Totesti (Fig. 4.). The
low contrast between pores and shell and the
smaller dimensions of the pores prevents the
use of the same method applied on the shell
from Tustea.

Fig. 7. The 3D model of the shell fragment from Tustea.

Fig. 8. Cutout through the shell model.

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Fig. 9. Tangential and radial slices.

RESULTS
The final (black and white) images were interpolated and the result was a 3D model of the analyzed shell
fragment (fig 7). The following figures (fig. 8, fig. 9) are meant to exemplify different types of
approach that allow us to make detailed observations regarding the relationships between pores on their
way through the shell. Also, the structure of an individual pore is represented in greater detail (fig. 10).

Fig. 5. Immages of the shell sections. Each image

corresponds to a different depth (Z in mm.).

Fig. 6. Same as in Fig. 7., with the pores and

shell units clearly defined.

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Fig. 10. Detail from the model showing the intimate structure of the pores.
CONCLUSION
This model is in fact an exact representation of the analyzed shell fragment, and allows very precise
observations. The pores, as well as the structural units, can be followed precisely and exact calculations of
the pore volumes can be made. It is known that not all pores are continuous through the entire thickness
of the shell, some of them failing to reach one side or the other, thus they were never used for gas and
water transfer. Things get more complicated, as most of the pores are intercommunicating. This kind of
relation between pores leaves a large room for errors when calculations for the area of all pores that
contribute to the gas and water exchange are made by means of mathematical approximations. Even
though this model helps to overcome the errors due to these mathematical approximations, some degree
of error still remains, as the entire shell of an egg is not homogenous in its pore volume distribution.

REFERENCES
Grigorescu, D., Weishampel D., Norman D., Seclamen, N., Rusu, M., Baltres, A,, and Teodorescu, V.
1994. Late Maastrichtian dinosaur eggs from the Hateg Basin (Romania). In: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies.
Carpenter, K., Hirsch, K. F., and Homer, J. Eds., Cambridge University Press, New York, 75-87.

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