Diagenesis is the suite of physical, chemical, and biological processes that alter unconsolidated sediments after deposition and during and after lithification, excluding surface weathering and high-grade metamorphism. It encompasses compaction, cementation, dissolution, recrystallization, authigenic mineral formation, and fluid–rock interaction within low-temperature and low-pressure regimes of the upper crust. Diagenetic reactions modify porosity, permeability, mineralogy, and geochemical signatures, critically influencing reservoir quality, basin evolution, and the preservation or alteration of primary paleoenvironmental and paleoecological signals. Diagenetic pathways are controlled by factors such as sediment composition, burial history, pore-fluid chemistry, redox conditions, and thermal gradients.
Arguably one of the most curious ancient human relatives is Homo floresiensis, a 3-foot-tall species that lived on the Indonesian island of Flores and has been nicknamed "hobbit" for its diminutive stature. Even though they ...
In September 2025, NASA announced that its Perseverance rover had discovered a potential biosignature, which is a substance or structure that might have a biological origin. A new paper, published in Science Advances, unambiguously ...
Astrobiology
Jun 24, 2026
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There is a place in northern Chile, 3,500 meters above sea level in the Andean Altiplano, where almost nothing survives. The Salar de Pajonales is a salt flat of savage extremes temperatures swinging from −23°C to 26°C, solar ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 29, 2026
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224
Scientists at Curtin University have solved a long-standing mystery about how some of the world's best-preserved fossils formed in ancient oxygen-free ocean floor settings. The research, published in Communications Earth ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 26, 2026
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It is a fully biodegradable and eco-friendly system for hydroponic agriculture, made of hydrogel and capable of supporting plant growth with minimal water; in the future, it will be able to monitor plant health in real time. ...
Biotechnology
Sep 26, 2025
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593
An international research team led by Curtin University has used prehistoric feces to better understand how molecular fossilization works, offering a new window into what ancient animals ate, the world they lived in and what ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 19, 2025
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172
A new study from North Carolina State University identifies vertebrate hemoglobin in bone extracts from two dinosaurs and shows that this molecule is original to those animals. The work also shows how heme, a small molecule ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 10, 2025
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326
Fossils are invaluable archives of the past. They preserve details about living things from a few thousand to hundreds of millions of years ago.
Biotechnology
Jul 16, 2025
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106
Over the last 3,800 years, agro-pastoral activities have accelerated alpine soil erosion at a pace four to 10 times faster than their natural formation. The history of this erosion has just been revealed for the first time ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 14, 2025
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