Investigating fossils at a molecular scale: characterization of the effect of diagenetic processes in bones from the Bauru Basin through FTIR

• Grant number: 25/13688-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2026
• End date: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Lorena Godoy
• Grantee: Pedro Lorena Godoy
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Paulo
• Associated research grant: 24/09825-7 - Characterizing diversity and evolutionary patterns of Amniota: systematics, macroevolution and paleoecology, AP.JP
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/25941-0 - Investigating fossils at a molecular scale: characterization of the effect of diagenetic processes in bones from the Bauru Basin through FTIR, BP.IC

Abstract

One of the central goals of Paleontology is to reconstruct the biology, physiologies, and ecologies of extinct animals. Unfortunately, the information retained in soft tissues is often lost during the fossilization process, leaving only mineralized tissues, which are subject to modifications in structure and composition. After the deposition in a sedimentary environment, mineralized tissues such as bones, teeth, and dermal plates undergo changes in their physical and chemical characteristics, including degradation of the organic matrix and recrystallization of minerals, in a process called diagenesis. Diagenesis results from a complex interaction between mineralized tissues and their depositional environments over deep time, reflecting site-specific conditions. In this context, studies focused on geological units such as the Bauru Basin (Late Cretaceous) are necessary, given the importance of this unit for the fossil record of Brazilian vertebrates, particularly for terrestrial reptiles such as dinosaurs and crocodylomorphs. This project aims to characterize fossil samples from the Bauru Basin using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The results will allow a better understanding of the changes undergone by fossils in their depositional environments, originating from the Caiuá and Bauru groups. (AU)