Molecular and Isotopic Fate of Alkenones and Alkenes During Early Diagenesis

小行星9617892 分子有机标记的使用提供了关于世界海洋和沉积物中发生的各种输入和过程的宝贵信息。 这些观测结果往往缺乏关于水柱和沉积物中生物处理与最终保存在地质记录中的分子信号之间关系的定量信息。 这些信息对于长链烯酮可能特别重要，长链烯酮是一组存在于几种海洋和沿海prymnesiophyte藻类中的化合物，现在被广泛用于详细记录海洋表面温度的最近和历史记录。 最近的温度预测和同位素签名的差异已被观察到，但没有机制的信息是可用的烯酮和相关的脂质后，最初的细胞生物合成记录成岩作用。 这项工作将侧重于海洋系统中烯酮、烯烃和烯酸烷基酯改变的两条主要途径：浮游动物摄食和微生物介导的过程。 该项目将提供关于海洋水柱和表层沉积物中烯酮和相关脂类的合成和归宿的基本信息，并验证这些化合物或其降解产物是否有可能定量测量现在和过去海洋的海面温度。 ***

9617892 Harvey The use of molecular organic markers has provided valuable information on a wide range of inputs and processes which occur in the worlds oceans and sediments. What is often absent from these observations, is quantitative information on the relationship of biological processing in the water column and sediments to the molecular signal which is ultimately preserved in the geological record. Such information may be particularly important for the long chain alkenones, a group of compounds present in several species of oceanic and coastal prymnesiophyte algae which are now being widely used to detail both recent and historical records of sea surface temperature. Recent disparities in temperature predictions and isotopic signature have been observed, yet no mechanistic information is available on the alkenones and related lipids after initial cellular biosynthesis to document diagenetic effects. This work will focus on the two major routes for the alteration of alkenones, alkenes and alkyl alkenoates in marine systems: zooplankton grazing and microbially mediated processes. The project will provide fundamental information on the synthesis and fate of the alkenones and related lipids in the marine water column and surface sediments and validate the potential for these compounds or their degradation products to provide a quantitative measure of sea surface temperature in present and past oceans. ***