Lipid compositions of sediments recovered during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 184 in the South China Sea have been identified and quantified. The identified lipids can be ascribed to terrigenous and marine sources. Terrigenous lipids are mainly C27, C29, C31 n-alkanes, C26, C28, C30 n-fatty acids, and n-alcohols, which were derived from leaf waxes of higher land plants and transported to the sea by airborne dust or fresh water. Marine lipids, mainly C37 and C38 alkenones, C30 diol, and C30 and C32 keto-ols, were from microalgae, notably haptophytes and eustigmatophytes. Elevated concentrations and accumulation rates of both terrigenous and marine lipids in the interval 202–245 meters composite depth (mcd) and 0–166 mcd were postulated to be related to the development of the East Asian monsoon at 6–8 Ma and enhanced variations of the developed East Asian monsoon after 3.2 Ma, respectively. The pronounced late Oligocene input of terrigenous lipids reflects the paleoenvironment of a newly opened, narrow basin, with restricted ocean waters and the proximity of continental runoff.
1Peng, P., Yu, C., Jia, G., Hu, J., Song, J., and Zhang, G., 2004. Data report: Marine and terrigenous lipids in the sediments from the South China Sea, Site 1148, Leg 184. In Prell, W.L., Wang, P., Blum, P., Rea, D.K., and Clemens, S.C. (Eds.), Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 184 [Online]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/184_SR/209/209.htm>. [Cited YYYY-MM-DD]
2State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wushan, Guangzhou 510640, People's Republic of China.
Correspondence author: jiagd@gig.ac.cn
Initial receipt: 3 September 2001
Acceptance: 15 December 2003
Web publication:
13 April 2004
Ms 184SR-209