The Bureau’s SEM Lab is Now e-MAGE Lab, with a New Logo and Expanded Presence

September 18, 2025
e-MAGE logo

We are excited to share a fresh chapter for our scanning electron microscopy (SEM) facility at the Bureau of Economic Geology. The lab is now officially named the Electron Microscopic Analysis in Geology and Engineering (e-MAGE) Lab, complete with a new logo that reflects our commitment to innovation, precision, and collaboration.

This update is more than a new identity. It signals our dedication to expanding the lab’s visibility, accessibility, and impact within the geoscience, engineering, environmental, and energy communities.

Our new tool, the Upgraded Hitachi SU-8700 Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope ensures high-quality SEM imaging with high-probe current, automation, multiple detectors, low-voltage imaging capability, and ultrafast microanalysis. The new system is complemented by the existing Zeiss Sigma Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope, providing low-voltage, high-resolution, automated imaging with emphasis on SEM-cathodoluminescence (panchromatic, RGB color, and CL-spectrometry) and advanced energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) elemental mapping.

Select images from the SEM lab
(A)    The SEM-CL image of a cemented fracture from the Kure Mélange, Shikoku, Japan. A crack-seal quartz cement bridge partially spans the fracture and is surrounded by calcite and ankerite cements. Each crack-seal increment within the bridge is interpreted as a slow-slip earthquake event in the subduction zone.

Our name upgrade to e-MAGE Lab provides a clear identity that captures the lab’s advanced capabilities, focus, and broad research scope. Pioneering and leading-edge areas of research include: first organic matter pores in unconventional shales and mudrocks; diagenesis and paragenesis of the sedimentary rocks; structural-diagenetic analyses of fracture systems and reservoirs; engineered materials like concrete, semi-conductors, and other nanofilms; critical minerals, including rare earth elements; and fluid-rock interactions relevant to geothermal energy, carbon sequestration, and geologic hydrogen.

The new e-MAGE logo offers a modern visual representation of our mission. The circular area highlights the cutting-edge imaging and analytical tools we offer, and the central outline is the schematic representation of a FE-SEM electron gun. We are excited to showcase the lab’s work through platforms like LinkedIn and our own website, highlighting breakthrough images, publications, and collaborations from our own Bureau researchers, other Jackson School researchers, students, and our collaborative academia and industry partners.

We are expanding our research with our SEM facility, equipped with state-of-the-art imaging, analytical, and sample preparation capabilities. We also incorporate image segmentation and image analysis inserting machine learning models into our workflow: 1) SEM-cathodoluminescence (SEM-CL) reveals diagenetic histories including authigenesis, fracturing, cementation and dissolution, growth zones, and twins, with broad applications like reservoir characterization and interpretation of structural features such as fractures and deformation bands (even in carbonates!). 2) EDS provides elemental mapping and compositional analyses down to the nanoscale, including EDS spectra and semi-quantitative mineral compositions. The TruMap function reduces artifacts from noise and overlapping elemental peaks, producing more accurate and reliable data. 3) Standard insertable and in-column backscattered electron (BSE) and secondary electron detectors provide composition, topography, and textures. 4) Variable pressure secondary electron detectors provide charge-contrast imaging, producing rapid pseudo-CL images over large areas. 5) Automated mineral identification and characterization system software enables automated mineralogical mapping and quantification over large areas. It works by collecting EDS spectra and identifying minerals using a comprehensive reference database (more than 2,000 minerals) compiled by the American Mineralogical Association. 6) High-resolution imaging workflows are integrated with geochemistry, petrology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, structural geology, and machine learning segmentation.

Select images from the SEM lab
(B)    This SEM-EDS image, complemented by AMICS analysis of the full thin section (top right), highlights the ultramafic pipe systems (Fei di Doccio) that intruded into the lower crust. Our study focuses on how metals and fluids interacted within these pipes. The sample comes from the Ivrea-Verbano Zone, northwest Italy.

Keep an eye out for ThinSLICE, a global petrography network spearheaded by Bureau researcher Kelly Hattori. We are currently in the process of compiling and enriching all archived SEM imaged data with metadata (formation, age, depth, subunit, associated Bureau researcher’s publication), and will soon launch an online ArcGIS-based database. This is designed to reach a broader community and to give collaborators and partners easy access to searchable, georeferenced imaging resources for research and joint projects.

By actively engaging online and sharing our results, we aim to inspire collaboration and give visibility to the cutting-edge work happening in the Bureau’s labs.

We invite industry partners, academics, and students to engage with us, both in person and online. Follow us on LinkedIn’s #MicroscopyMonday, #FractureFriday, and other LinkedIn features showcasing research highlights from the Jackson School (e.g., FRAC, MSRL); reach out to discuss collaborative projects in fractured reservoirs, carbon storage, critical minerals, hydrogen, geothermal, and beyond; and share and interact with our posts to help expand the research of geological imaging science.

With a new name, a new logo, and a stronger online presence, the Bureau of Economic Geology’s e-MAGE Lab is ready to connect, collaborate, support your research needs, and showcase the transformative insights that advanced imaging makes possible!

For more information on the e-MAGE Lab, please contact Principal Investigators Lucy Ko or Esti Ukar.

Select images from the SEM lab
(C)    A porous macrofracture in a sandstone outcrop analog of a potential geothermal target, New York State. The color SEM-CL image (left) shows detrital grains versus authigenic minerals,  quartz overgrowths (Qc), K-feldspar overgrowths (Fpc), and, likely, hydrothermal phosphatic-iron cement lining fracture walls. The EDS image (right) highlights major (quartz and K-feldspar) and accessory (rutile and illite clays) mineral phases. These images indicate FeP cements prevented quartz and feldspar from sealing the fracture, and preserved fracture porosity.
Select images from the SEM lab
(D)    This BSED image shows a dissolved mineral (possibly feldspar), first replaced by pyrite and later filled with migrated bitumen, that developed organic matter pores under thermal stress. Matrix includes quartz, albite, and clay minerals. Marcellus Shale, northwest Pennsylvania (depth: 8,100 ft).
Select images from the SEM lab
(E)    The SEM image shows a coccolith plate, which once armored a coccolithophore, at the center surrounded by various types of carbonate grains. These grains result from the breakdown (disaggregation) of coccolithophores as the mucus membrane that binds the coccoliths together decomposes. Several elongated grains visible in the image are spines that were originally attached to the coccolith plate. The disaggregated coccolith hash contains plenty of micropores.

© 2021 Bureau of Economic Geology | Web Privacy Policy | Web Accessibility Policy