Sedimentation is the physical phenomenon in which suspended particles in a fluid (liquid or gas) undergo gravitational settling or deposition due to differences in density and hydrodynamic drag. It is governed by forces including gravity, buoyancy, and viscous resistance, often approximated for small, spherical particles at low Reynolds numbers by Stokes’ law. Sedimentation influences particle-size fractionation, concentration gradients, and stratification in natural and engineered systems, and is a key process in sediment transport, basin infilling, water and wastewater treatment, and laboratory separations, where it interacts with turbulence, flocculation, and chemical conditions to determine deposition rates and spatial distribution.
When most people hear the phrase "ocean acidification," they think of coral reefs, shellfish or declining fisheries. Those concerns are real. But while working on our recent research, I found myself asking a different question: ...
Reservoirs around the world are losing storage capacity at an average rate of 7.3% per decade—disproportionately affecting small reservoirs, which together provide water to billions of people. The data come from a study published ...
Environment
Jun 5, 2026
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The Euphrates River is the longest river in Western Asia and runs through the eastern side of the Fertile Crescent. Flowing over 1,700 miles from Turkey through Syria and Iraq, the river played a crucial role in sustaining ...
Can "snow" fall in the ocean and influence the climate of the entire planet? It turns out that it can. Research conducted by scientists from the Faculty of Physics at University of Warsaw, published in the Journal of Fluid ...
Earth Sciences
May 14, 2026
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You're an anaerobic microbe sunbathing on a Martian beach billions of years ago listening to the small waves hit the shoreline as you take in the perchlorates in the Martian regolith. This is because while Mars is warm and ...
Planetary Sciences
May 13, 2026
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Caltech researchers have identified geological features on Mars that could point to the existence of a long-dried ocean that once covered a third of the Red Planet's surface. The research was conducted by former Caltech postdoctoral ...
Astrobiology
Apr 15, 2026
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The search for life on Mars involves the efforts of scientists from many different disciplines. An important aspect of that search is to study Martian sedimentary rocks for information about the planet's environment when ...
Astrobiology
Apr 2, 2026
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Scientists have long sought to explain a key mismatch in Earth's early history: oxygen-producing photosynthesis evolved hundreds of millions of years before atmospheric oxygen began to rise during the Great Oxidation Event. ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 19, 2026
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A new study shows that during the last two deglaciations, i.e., the transition from an ice age to the warm interglacial periods, meltwater from the Antarctic ice sheet intensified stratification in the Southern Ocean. The ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 14, 2026
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Using images from cameras on Mars orbiters, an international research team has discovered structures on Mars that are very similar to classic river deltas on Earth. These are traces of rivers that have deposited their sediments ...
Astrobiology
Jan 12, 2026
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