• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.555.7649; http://www.deepseadrilling.org/48/volume/dsdp48_44.pdf

The lipids extracted from Cretaceous mudstones from the northern North Atlantic Ocean (Hole 402A). The distribution patterns of the π-alkanes, n-fatty acids, and /i-alkan-2-ones indicated a predominant al-lochthonous terrigenous origin, with a minor autochthonous marine com-ponent. Molecular markers of both marine and terrestrial origins were identified. The sedimentation took place under oxic conditions with rapid influx of terrigenous detritus. The lipids of an Eocene sample from Site 404 were of a predominantly marine origin with only traces of molecular markers from terrestrial sources. This sediment was deposited in oxic deep waters. The 17/3(H),21ß(H)-hopane series was predominant in all these sam-ples, indicating that these sediments are very immature and have had a mild geothermal history.