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.
In Earth's fossil record, soft-bodied organisms like jellyfish rarely stand the test of time. What's more, it's hard for any animal to get preserved with exceptional detail in sandstones, which are made of large grains, are ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 8, 2026
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57
Mars is a dusty planet dominated by vast, dry deserts, with no easily accessible sources of liquid water. Much like on Earth, dust is lifted from Mars's surface by wind and rotating air columns, transported through the atmosphere, ...
Space Exploration
Dec 17, 2025
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35
For decades, researchers seeking to understand global climate change have analyzed ice cores drilled deep within the Antarctic ice sheet. This ice traps chemicals and bubbles of ancient air that tell the story of how Earth's ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 21, 2025
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78
Deep beneath the ocean's surface lies Earth's largest carbon reservoir: marine sediments that have accumulated organic matter over millions of years. Long assumed to be permanently "locked away," this vast carbon pool is ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 21, 2025
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51
On May 12, 2008, the magnitude 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake shook central China, its destructive tremors spreading from the flank of the Longmen Shan, or Dragon's Gate Mountains, along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.
Earth Sciences
Aug 13, 2025
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105
Organic particles that settle on the seabed ensure CO2 stays locked. However, natural gel-like substances slow down this process. Such microscale mechanisms play a crucial role in enhancing climate predictions.
Earth Sciences
May 28, 2025
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23
Research led by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC), with the participation of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), has reconstructed the history of pollution ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 28, 2025
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26
For scientists who want to learn about the geological history of a planet, river deltas are a great place to start. Deltas gather sediment from a large area into one place, which can be studied to reveal climate and tectonic ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 18, 2025
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260
Long ago, flowing wind and water shaped Mars's malleable sand and sediment into dunes, ripples and other landscape patterns, called bedforms. Over billions of years, some of these landforms hardened into rock—scientists then ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 25, 2024
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