Called ferrihydrite, this iron mineral formed during a cold, wet period on early Mars under oxidative conditions, followed by a transition to the current...
An asteroid struck Mars 11 million years ago and sent pieces of the planet hurtling through space; one of these chunks eventually crashed into the Earth....
Archaeologists say they have discovered the oldest known evidence for intensive ochre mining worldwide, at least 48,000 years ago, in Lion Cavern at Ngwenya...
Carbonate minerals are of particular interest in paleoenvironmental research as they are an integral part of the carbon and water cycles, both of which...
Researchers from the University of Tokyo and elsewhere have found pockets of living microbes in mineral-filled veins within 2-billion-year-old rock from...
Researchers from the Scottish Association for Marine Science and colleagues have discovered that the polymetallic nodule-covered abyssal seafloor in the...
Solid state chemistry has produced a plethora of materials with properties not found in nature. For example, high-temperature superconductivity in copper-oxide...
The history of water on Mars is a puzzle that is of interest to planetary scientists as well as the general public. The Red Planet currently has water...
The clouds of Venus are believed to be composed of sulfuric acid and minor constituents including iron-bearing compounds. Respective concentrations of...
Phosphate minerals such as those in the apatite group tend to be the dominant forms of phosphorus in minerals on the Earth’s surface. Phosphates can...
The El Ali meteorite, a 15.2-ton iron meteorite found in 2020 near the tiny town of El Ali in Somalia, contains at least two new minerals: elaliite and...
According to a series of four papers by the Perseverance science team, the floor of Jezero crater had eroded more than planetary researchers expected....
The newly-released map shows the locations and abundances of secondary minerals formed through interaction with water on Mars. It is based on the analysis...
Tridymite is a high-temperature, low-pressure form of quartz that is extremely rare on Earth, and it wasn’t clear how a chunk of it ended up in Gale...
Hackmanite, tugtupite, and scapolite change their color from white to purple, pink, and blue, respectively, under UV irradiation, according to a team of...
Calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3) is arguably the most geochemically important phase in the Earth’s lower mantle, because it concentrates elements...
According to a study published in the journal Geology, samples of glassy slabs found in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile, contain tiny fragments with...
Most rocky exoplanets are exotic in composition and mineralogy, according to an analysis of the chemical composition of the so-called ‘polluted’ white...
A rare iron mineral called santabarbaraite has never before been seen in a living organism, according to a paper to be published in the Proceedings of...
