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Originally published in Science Express on 11 May 2006
Science 16 June 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5780, pp. 1627 - 1631
DOI: 10.1126/science.1126372
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Research Articles

Biomarker Evidence for a Major Preservation Pathway of Sedimentary Organic Carbon

Y. Hebting,1* P. Schaeffer,1 A. Behrens,1 P. Adam,1 G. Schmitt,1 P. Schneckenburger,1 S. M. Bernasconi,2 P. Albrecht1{dagger}

Hydrogenation processes leading from biomolecules to fossil biomarkers in anoxic sediments are crucial for the preservation of organic matter. However, these processes are still poorly understood. The present identification of several reduced carotenoids in recent sediments attests that these processes operate at the earliest stages of diagenesis without structural or stereochemical specificity, implying a nonbiological reduction pathway. Sulfur species (e.g., H2S) are the hydrogen donors involved in such reduction, as demonstrated with laboratory experiments. These reactions allow the preservation of abundant organic carbon in the rock record.

1 Laboratoire de Géochimie Bioorganique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7509 du CNRS, Université Louis Pasteur, Ecole de Chimie, Polymères, Matériaux de Strasbourg, 25 rue Becquerel, 67200 Strasbourg, France.
2 Geologisches Institut, ETH Zürich, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland.

* Present address: Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: albrecht{at}chimie.u-strasbg.fr

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)