The application of element mapping in the scanning electron microscope with electron probe microanalysis across the lichen-rock interface is described with reference to Trapelia involuta growing on a granite substratum. The preparation of samples containing both organic and mineral components required the development of specialized techniques to maintain both chemical and structural integrity at the 2 mm resolution of the X-ray element maps. X-ray element maps show the distribution of entrained rock particles at the lichen-rock interface and chemical localization which is strongly related to anatomical structure for the essential elements S, Fe, Ca, Na, K and P. The ability to map element distribution across the lichenrock interface has wide-ranging potential applications in studies such as the biodeterioration of buildings and monuments and the mobilization and uptake of toxic elements from contaminated substrata. Fig. 4. X-ray element maps for K and P for a single apothecium from a second sample of T. involuta which was collected from a mine site in Cornwall to demonstrate the fine detail of element localization which can be resolved by X-ray element mapping. Abbreviations as in Fig. 1.
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