Sediment core from a lake with mud and sand

Images from a sediment core taken from Floras Lake, a coastal lake in southern Oregon. At the far left is a false color computed tomography (CT) scan of a sediment core, and next to it is an actual photograph of the core. The box shows the area of an expanded, zoomed-in section of these images, which is displayed in the center. In both the CT scan and the photograph, the lighter, brighter colors are dense sand and the darker colors are mud layers. At far right is another false color image of the CT scan. Scientists use the CT scan in order to see unique aspects of the layers of sediment that may otherwise not be visible.