Assessment of the formation and modification and degradation of marine kerogen at a molecular level

为了在分子水平上更好地了解海洋干酪根的成因、性质、改性和降解，该项目通过其生物(地质)化学将化石海洋生物遗骸与其来源生物联系起来。这是通过三种相互支持的方式完成的：1)通过比较不同的现代和化石(植物学、动物学)结构的生物地球化学来评估天然干酪根的形成。目标结构是新近(培养的)和化石(来自沉积物)的海洋孢粉形态，作为海洋干酪根的替代品。这种方法利用了现代生物体和化石之间的直接形态联系。2)监测干酪根形成的实验。其目的是在实验室和现场实验中量化生物、物理和化学对干酪根(反式)形成的影响。需要对影响干酪根形成的单个因素进行系统的评估，以评估观察到的自然过程，获得对挖掘过程的机理理解，并对降解动力学进行模拟。在自然条件下，以及在压力和/或温度升高的情况下，脂类、大分子及其组合的实验为短期和长期过程之间的过渡提供了一座桥梁。3)干酪根形成和转化的模拟。其目的是确定理论、实验结果和现场观测之间的差距和不匹配。这为其他分项目提供了反馈，并导致了对所涉及的动力学和反应机制的基本和定量的了解。

To better understand the genesis, nature, modification and degradation of marine kerogen at a molec-ular level, the project connects fossil marine biotic remains with their source organisms through their bio(geo)chemistry. This is done in three mutually supporting ways:1) Assessment of natural kerogen formation by comparing the biogeochemistries of distinct recent and fossil (botanical, zoological) structures. Target structures are recent (cultured) and fossil (from sediments) marine palynomorphs as proxies for marine kerogen. The approach takes advantage of the direct morphological link between the recent organism and is fossil counterpart.2) Experiments monitoring kerogen formation. This aims at quantifying the biological, physical and chemical influences on kerogen (trans)formation in laboratory and by in situ experiments. Systematic assessment of individual factors influencing kerogen formation is needed to evaluate the natural pro-cesses observed, to obtain a mechanistic understanding of taphonomic processes and for modelling degradation kinetics. Experiments at natural conditions as well as elevated pressure and/or tempera-tures on lipids, macromolecules and their combinations provide a bridge between the transition of short-term and long-term processes.3) Modelling of kerogen formation and transformation. The aim is identifying gaps and mismatches between theory, experimental results and in situ observations. This provides feedback for the other subprojects and leads to a fundamental and quantitative understanding of the kinetics and reaction mechanisms involved.