160 Megapixel Stromatolite Photograph

Download original media

Media Details

Created 4/11/2006 5:00:00 AM

Stromatolites are layered rocks thought to be produced by bacterial mats. During photosynthesis, cyanobacteria produce calcium carbonate which can cement trapped particles into layers of limestone. This image is a composite from 30 images taken on the Canon EOS 1Ds with MP-E 1-5x macro lens. It yields a 160 megapixel image with 60x effective magnification. Because the sample is not flat, parallax causes features to not line up perfectly across images.

Credits

• Chas Conway , ITG, Beckman Institute
• Glenn Fried , ITG, Beckman Institute