Abstract. Variations in the chemical composition of fossil biogenic carbonates, and in particular of mollusc shells, have been used in a range of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. It is of primary importance, therefore, to detect and understand the diagenetic processes that may modify the original chemical signature. This microstructural and biogeochemical study focuses on modern and fossil (Holocene and Pleistocene) shells of a littoral gastropod of Northern Chile, and on the characterization of mineral component transformations at the nanometric scale and concomitant intracrystalline organic compound modifications. The inner aragonite layer of the shell exhibits more complex deteriorations than the calcite layer. This preliminary study confirms that physical and chemical alterations of various components of mollusc shell biocrystals are complex and might manifest in different ways even within a single individual. The single criterion of determining the mineralogical composition to verify the conservation state of shell samples is insufficient.