Direct Assessment of Weathered Organic Carbon Inputs to Marine Sediments

9415568艾灵顿这种古老的、潜在的难熔物质特别难以量化，它代表了海洋沉积物中总有机碳的一个未知(“隐藏”)成分。信息匮乏的原因在于很难对这个难以捉摸的碳库进行直接测量。干酪根是沉积岩中有机碳的主要组成部分，具有惰性，结构特征不明显，难以表征。根据定义，风化碳将具有无限的放射性碳龄(即“14C-死”)，以确定其在海洋沉积物中的重要性。具体地说，PI将对单个沉积有机化合物进行放射性碳测年，以便为不同的有机碳储集层建立离散的年龄。拟议项目的总体目标是：1.)确定共沉积有机质的年龄分布，2)评估风化(14C-死)有机碳在现代海洋沉积物中的比例。

9415568 EGLINGTON This ancient, and potentially refractory material is particularly difficult to quantify, and represents an unknown ("hidden") component of the total organic carbon (TOC) in marine sediments. The reason for the paucity of information lies in the difficulty in making direct measurements of this elusive carbon pool. Kerogen, the dominant fraction of organic carbon in sedimentary rocks is difficult to characterize, being inert and lacking structural characteristicity. The PI proposes to use the fact that weathered carbon will, by definition, have an infinite radiocarbon age (i.e. "14C-dead") to determine its significance in marine sediments. Specifically, the PI will radiocarbon date individual sedimentary organic compounds in order to establish discrete ages for different OC pools. The overall objectives of the proposed project are to: 1.) Determine the age distribution of co-deposited sedimentary organic matter, 2.) Assess the proportion of weathered (14C-dead) organic carbon in recent marine sediments.