Abstract Natural history museums hold hundreds of thousands of mineral and fossil specimens containing iron sulfides, such as pyrite, all of which may be at risk from deterioration. Oxidation of these minerals causes cracking, crystal growth and powdering which, if unchecked, can eventually lead to the complete loss of specimens. This article reports the findings of an experiment which utilised X-ray micro-Computed Tomography (μCT) to generate 3D time lapse imaging over 15 months to compare the deterioration of pyritic ammonites stored within micro-environments created with varying levels of oxygen and relative humidity. The study concludes that the optimum storage parameters for the preservation of sulfide-bearing specimens are 40% relative humidity and 0% oxygen.

中文翻译：

---

傻瓜的金子，傻瓜的天堂？利用X射线计算机断层扫描技术评估环境条件对黄铁矿化石退化的影响

摘要自然历史博物馆拥有成千上万个含有硫化铁（例如黄铁矿）的矿物和化石标本，所有这些标本都可能面临恶化的危险。这些矿物质的氧化会导致开裂，晶体生长和粉末化，如果不加以检查，最终可能会导致样品完全消失。本文报告了一项实验的发现，该实验利用X射线微计算机断层扫描（μCT）生成了15个月的3D延时成像，以比较氧气和相对湿度不同而在微环境中存储的黄铁矿的劣化。 。研究得出结论，用于保存含硫化物样品的最佳存储参数是40％相对湿度和0％氧气。