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Science 2 June 1978:
Vol. 200. no. 4345, pp. 1054 - 1056
DOI: 10.1126/science.200.4345.1054
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Articles

Degraded Lignin Compounds Identified in Silicified Wood 200 Million Years Old

ANNE COLBERG SIGLEO 1

1 Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721

Degraded lignin compounds have been identified in Triassic age (about 200 million years) silicified wood from the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The pyrolysis products from black carbonaceous samples include carbon dioxide, low-molecular-weight alkanes and alkenes, benzene, alkyl-substituted benzenes, phenol, cresol, xylenols, indenes, benzofurans, trimethylindanone, and naphthalenes. These compounds are also the primary pyrolyzates of modern lignin above 500°C.

Submitted on September 21, 1977
Revised on November 8, 1977


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The oil-generating potential of plants from coal and coal-bearing strata through time: a review with new evidence from Carboniferous plants.
M. E. Collinson, P. F. Van Bergen, A. C. Scott, and J. W. De Leeuw (1994)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 77, 31-70
   Abstract »    PDF »
Evidence for Lignin-Like Constituents in Early Silurian (Llandoverian) Plant Fossils.
K. J. Niklas, K. J. NIKLAS, and L. M. PRATT (1980)
Science 209, 396-397
   Abstract »    PDF »


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