Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 25 February 1994:
Vol. 263. no. 5150, pp. 1122 - 1125
DOI: 10.1126/science.263.5150.1122
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

A Molecular Organic Carbon Isotope Record of Miocene Climate Changes

M. Schoell 1, S. Schouten 2, J. S. Sinninghe Damsté 2, J. W. de Leeuw 2, and R. E. Summons 3

1 Chevron Petroleum Technology Company, P.O. Box 446, La Habra, CA 90633, USA.
2 Division of Marine Biogeochemistry, Netherlands Institute of Sea Research, P. O. Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands
3 Australian Geological Survey Organisation, GPO Box 378, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

The difference in carbon-13 (13C) contents of hopane and sterane biomarkers in the Monterey formation (Naples Beach, California) parallels the Miocene inorganic record of the change in 18O (dgr18O), reflecting the Miocene evolution from a well-mixed to a highly stratified photic zone (upper 100 meters) in the Pacific. Steranes (dgr13C = 25.4 ± 0.7 per mil versus the Pee Dee belemnite standard) from shallow photic-zone organisms do not change isotopically throughout the Miocene. In contrast, sulfur-bound C35 hopanes (likely derived from bacterial plankton living at the base of the photic zone) have systematically decreasing 13C concentrations in Middle and Late Miocene samples (dgr13C = –29.5 to –31.5 per mil), consistent with the Middle Miocene formation of a carbon dioxide—rich cold water mass at the base of the photic zone.

Submitted on June 22, 1993
Accepted on November 23, 1993


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Genome structure and emerging evidence of an incipient sex chromosome in Populus.
T. Yin, S. P. DiFazio, L. E. Gunter, X. Zhang, M. M. Sewell, S. A. Woolbright, G. J. Allan, C. T. Kelleher, C. J. Douglas, M. Wang, et al. (2008)
Genome Res. 18, 422-430
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Paleoecology of an Exceptionally Preserved Arthropod Fauna from Lake Deposits of the Miocene Barstow Formation, Southern California, U.S.A.
(2001)
Palaios 16, 175-184
Density and Mineralogy Variations as a Function of Porosity in Miocene Monterey Formation Oil and Gas Reservoirs in California.
(2001)
AAPG Bulletin 85, 149-167
High-precision position-specific isotope analysis.
T. N. Corso and J. T. Brenna (1997)
PNAS 94, 1049-1053
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Organic carbon as a palaeoenvironmental indicator in the marine realm.
J. W. De Leeuw, N. L. Frewin, P. F. Van Bergen, J. S. Sinninghe Damste, and M. E. Collinson (1995)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 83, 43-71
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

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