The major biomarker compounds in surface (0.95 meters below seafloor [mbsf]) and deep (579.92 mbsf) sediment samples from the Benguela Current coastal upwelling system off Lüderitz, Namibia (Leg 175 Hole 1084A), have been identified and quantified. Lipids of marine origin (especially long-chain alkenones) dominate the solvent-soluble extracts of both samples with minor constituents of terrestrially derived lipids. The paleoenvironmental significance of the more labile biomarker distributions (sterols) is limited by losses from depth-related diagenetic transformations. These losses may have led to the relative enrichment of the more refractory biomarkers (alkenones) with depth.
1Marlow, J.R., Farrimond, P., and Rosell-Melé, A., 2001. Analysis of lipid biomarkers in sediments from the Benguela Current coastal upwelling system (Site 1084). In Wefer, G., Berger, W.H., and Richter, C. (Eds.), Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 175 [Online]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/175_SR/chap_05/chap_05.htm> [Cited YYYY-MM-DD]
2Fossil Fuels and Environmental Geochemistry, Drummond Building, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom. j.r.marlow@ncl.ac.uk
3Department of Geography, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
Initial
receipt: 2 March 2000
Acceptance: 8 September 2000
Publication: 5 April 2001
Ms 175SR-210