Red Pompeian paintings, very famous for their deep intensity, are currently suffering from darkening. The origins of this darkening degradation are not clearly identified yet and remain a major issue for curators. In the specific case of cinnabar (HgS)-based red pigment, a photoinduced conversion into black metacinnabar is usually suspected. This work is focused on the blackening of red cinnaba...

The East Chia Sabz site is located on the bank of the Seymareh River in the middle of the Zagros Mountain chain. The site is among the few examples of the acramic Neolithic sites of the 8th millennium B.C. of Zagros which was archaeologically investigated during the rescue archaeological studies of the Seymareh dam. Numerous bullet-shaped cores were unearthed during the archaeological excavatio...

The mineral composition of the microbial mats at La Banya spit was studied. The spit is formed by a narrow sand bar and a peninsula and is located south of the main body of the Ebro Delta (Tarragona, Spain). Although quartz was the predominant mineral component in all sampling sites, clay, feldspars, calcite, aragonite, halite, dolomite and gypsum were also found. An increase in both the fine m...

nano-encapsulated iron oxide in zirconium oxide-coated mica pigments are thermally stable,innocuous to human health, non-combustible, and they do not conduct electricity. they could beapplied in several industries such as thermoplastics, cosmetics, food packaging, children toys, paints,automobiles coating, security purposes, and banknotes. nowadays, they are highly desirable inceramic decoratio...

Abstract The Salar de Llamara, Atacama Desert is host to saline lakes known as Puquios, which are possible analogs for on early Earth or Mars. Here we examine associations between microbial communities, Mg-clay minerals, and carbonates in mat samples from the Puquios using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, focused ion beam nanotomography, transmission microscop...

The encapsulation of living cells is appealing for its various applications to cell-based sensors, bioreactors, biocatalysts, and bioenergy. In this work, we introduce the encapsulation of multiple microalgal cells in hollow polymer shells of rhombohedral shape by the following sequential processes: embedding of microalgae in CaCO₃ crystals; layer-by-layer (LbL) coating of polyelectrolytes; and...

The sodium-modified form of fluorohectorite nanoclay (NaFh) is introduced as a potential drug carrier, demonstrating its ability for the controlled release of the broad-spectrum antibiotic Ciprofloxacin through in vitro tests. The new clay-drug composite is designed to target the local infections in the large intestine, where it delivers most of the incorporated drug thanks to its pH-sensitive ...

the artificial recharge of groundwater (arg), where practicable, is an easy and economical method for desertification control in the arid and semi-arid zones where overpumping has critically lowered the watertable. although desiltation of floodwaters, which is a prerequisite for the arg, leads to rehabilitation of the eroded sites that house the sedimentation basins (sbs), the gradual imper...