Collaborative Research: Organic Geochemistry Studies in the Arabian Sea

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9310364 Wakeham Because of the monsoon-driven seasonality of primary production in the Arabian Sea, the Arabian Sea Process Study affords an opportunity to follow a variety of biomarker compounds from their point of origin in the photic zone to their eventual burial and preservation in seafloor sediments. In this project, the principal investigators will sample and characterize some 100 different particulate biochemical compounds -- lipids, pigments, amino acids, and carbohydrates -- at their point of origin in the surface ocean, through transformation in deeper water as they settle in deeper water as they settle in particulate form to the seafloor, and in surficial and subsurface sediments. Analysis of data collected during and between monsoon events will permit the investigators to characterize the reactivity and transformations of these organic substances and to assess their potential for sedimentary preservation as marine paleoenvironmental indicators. ***