Abstract
BECAUSE of their chemical stability, alkanes and fatty acids have been widely used as indicators of biological origin in studies of sediments1–4, but their formation may often be attributable to abiogenic syntheses and transformations5 so that their distribution patterns should be approached with caution. Little effort has been expended on analysis of sediments for relatively unaltered molecules which are biologically more significant, such as sterols which are present in sea water6, bottom muds (both marine and non-marine)7,8, surface soils9, and an Eocene shale10. If such molecules are present in sediments representing a wide period of geological time, their significance with regard to depositional environment and contributory organisms would exceed any other biological marker in common use. We report some organic geochemical studies of a Pleistocene basin and a contemporary lake where we are attempting to correlate alkane, fatty acid, steroid, amino-acid and sugar distribution patterns with stratigraphy and biological environment.
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HENDERSON, W., REED, W., STEEL, G. et al. Isolation and Identification of Sterols from a Pleistocene Sediment. Nature 231, 308–310 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/231308a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/231308a0
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