Characterization of fossils from the museum of natural sciences of Guarapuava by gamma-ray spectrometry

This article presents the Gamma-Ray Spectrometry (GRS) measurements of 32 fossil samples from the Museum of Natural Sciences of Guarapuava-PR, Brazil. GRS, without strict control of the measurement geometry, can serve as a complementary technique that gives results related to the total chemical and mineralogical composition of the pieces. In the case of fossils, GRS data may be interpreted to provide information about some diagenesis processes (mineralization) and the redox conditions of the sedimentary environment in which they were formed. The results demonstrated the feasibility of characterizing fossil samples with irregular geometries and varied densities using gamma ray spectrometry.