Branched aliphatic alkanes with quaternary substituted carbon atoms in modern and ancient geologic samples.
A pseudohomologous series of branched aliphatic alkanes with a quaternary substituted carbon atom (BAQCs, specifically 2,2-di-methylalkanes and 3,3- and 5,5-diethylalkanes) were identified in warm (65{sup o}C) deep-sea hydrothermal waters and Late Cretaceous black shales. 5,5-Diethylalkanes were also observed in modern and Holocene marine shelf sediments and in shales spanning the last 800 million years of the geological record. The carbon number distribution of BAQCs indicates a biological origin. These compounds were observed but not identified in previous studies of 2.0 billion- to 2.2 billion-year-old metasediments and were commonly misidentified in other sediment samples, indicating that BAQCs are widespread in the geological record. The source organisms of BAQCs are unknown, but their paleobiogeographic distribution suggests that they have an affinity for sulfides and might be nonphotosynthetic sulfide oxidizers.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 961371
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/CHM/JA-47177; PNASA6; TRN: US201011%%644
- Journal Information:
- Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A, Vol. 100, Issue 22 ; 2003; ISSN 0027-8424
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
Similar Records
A Quaternary analog for a mixed carbonate and siliciclastic sequence on the W. Scottish Shelf
Oil-source rock correlation using carbon isotope data and biological marker compounds, Cook Inlet-Alaska Peninsula, Alaska