Kenig, Fabien; Simons, Dirk-Jan H.; Crich, David; Cowen, James P.; Ventura, Gregory T.; Rehbein-Khalily, Tatiana; Brown, Todd C.; Anderson, Ken B. (2003): Branched aliphatic alkanes with quaternary substituted carbon atoms in modern and ancient geologic samples. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, United States, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100 (22), 12554-12558, georefid:2007-127052

Abstract:
A pseudohomologous series of branched aliphatic alkanes with a quaternary substituted carbon atom (BAQCs, specifically 2,2-dimethylalkanes and 3,3- and 5,5-diethylalkanes) were identified in warm (65 degrees C) deep-sea hydrothermal waters and Late Cretaceous black shales. 5,5-Diethylalkanes were also observed in modern and Holocene marine shelf sediments and in shales spanning the last 800 million years of the geological record. The carbon number distribution of BAQCs indicates a biological origin. These compounds were observed but not identified in previous studies of 2.0 billion- to 2.2 billion-year-old metasediments and were commonly misidentified in other sediment samples, indicating that BAQCs are widespread in the geological record. The source organisms of BAQCs are unknown, but their paleobiogeographic distribution suggests that they have an affinity for sulfides and might be nonphotosynthetic sulfide oxidizers.
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West: -127.4526 East: -127.4526 North: 47.4556 South: 47.4556
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Data set link: http://sedis.iodp.org/pub-catalogue/index.php?id=10.1073/pnas.1735581100 (c.f. for more detailed metadata)
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