Supporting data for "A micro X-ray computed tomography dataset of fossil echinoderms in an ancient obrution bed: a robust method for taphonomic and palaeoecologic analyses"

Taphonomic and palaeoecologic studies of obrution beds often employ conventional methods of investigation such as physical removal and extraction of fossils from their sedimentary rock matrix by mechanical preparation. This often-destructive method is not suitable for studying mouldic fossiliferous beds which, due to dissolution of the fossils in post-depositional processes and diagenesis, only contain impressions of the organisms in voids left in host sedimentary rocks. Micro computed tomography (µCT) scan data of 24 fossiliferous rock samples revealed thousands of Paleozoic echinoderms and digitally stitching together individually µCT scanned rock samples within 3D space allows for quantifiable taphonomic data on a fossil echinoderm-rich obrution deposit. A brief step-by-step guide is provided on creating, segmenting and ultimately combining sections of a richly fossiliferous bed to create a virtual model of the bed suited for the quantitative and qualitative taphonomic analysis of a marine benthic assemblage from the Devonian (Emsian) of South Africa. The use of visualising the internal features of fossiliferous beds in 3D is an invaluable taphonomic tool for analysing delicate fossils, accounting for all specimens irrespective of their preservation stages and without damaging the. The technique is particularly useful for analysing fossiliferous deposits with highly mouldic fossils that prove to be difficult to study with traditional methods, because the method relies on the large density contrast between the natural cast and host rock.