Carotenoid diagenesis in recent marine sediments. I. The Peru continental shelf (15/sup 0/S, 75/sup 0/W)

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1987 · Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(87)90111-6· OSTI ID:6990996

Repeta, D J; Gagosian, R B

The authors report here the distribution of carotenoids in Peru marine surface sediments, including partial identification of 37 pigments, 33 of which have not been previously reported to occur in marine sediments. Their analysis demonstrates that zooplanktonic crustacea, diatoms, dinoflagellates, cryptomonads, purple nonsulfur photosynthetic bacteria, and unidentified species of photosynthetic bacteria are contributors to sedimentary organic matter. Fucoxanthin, fucoxanthinol, diadinoxanthin, peridinin and peridininol, the principal carotenoids of diatoms and dinoflagellates observed in sediment traps, are nearly absent from their sample, even though these phytoplankton are the primary source of organic matter. They attribute this to the presence of 5,6 epoxides in these pigments, a feature which causes rapid cleavage of the polyene and fragmentation to low molecular weight compounds.

• Research Organization: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6990996
• Journal Information: Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta; (United States), Vol. 51:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
CONTINENTAL SHELF
SEDIMENTS
ORGANIC MATTER
ORIGIN
PIGMENTS
DIAGENESIS
GEOCHEMISTRY
BACTERIA
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DIATOMS
DINOFLAGELLATE
PERU
ZOOPLANKTON
ALGAE
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
CHEMISTRY
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
INVERTEBRATES
LATIN AMERICA
MASTIGOPHORA
MICROORGANISMS
PLANKTON
PLANTS
PROTOZOA
SOUTH AMERICA
580400* - Geochemistry- (-1989)