Art in the Details

Like each speck of paint in a piece of art, minerals, animal skeletons, and remnants of sea sponges provide a colorful mix when sediment samples from the the Sealoor Samples Lab are swabbed on a glass slide and viewed under a microscope. A polarizing filter helps scientists identify each speck of material in the core, which provides clues to Earth’s evolution and past climate. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)