'Institute for Hydrospheric-Atmospheric Sciences, Nagoya University

• Main Authors: Naomi Harada, Nobuhiko Handa, Mitsuo Fukuchi, Ryoshi Ishiwatari
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Syowa Station; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.580.7390; http://polaris.nipr.ac.jp/~penguin/polarbiosci/issues/pdf/1995-Harada.pdf

Abstract: We have attempted to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment of the coastal region around Syowa Station in Liitzow-Holm Bay, Antarctica using organic compounds in a marine sediment core from this region. The vertical variation pattern of organic carbon (OC) in the sediment core was similar to that of total nitrogen (TN). The OC and TN values decreased from 0.3 to 0.02 and 0.046 to 0.004 % by weight from the surface to the bottom, respectively. "C age showed a smooth pattern of change from about 3000 yBP at the surface to 14000 yBP at the bottom (129 cm), except for an abrupt age gap at a depth of 70cm in the sediment core. Normal-alkanes ranging from c 1 5 (carbon chain length) to C33 were found with a predominance of CZ1 in the low hydrocarbon content sections (0.16-0.79 pg/g) at depths of 0-5, 55-60 and 120-125 cm of the core, whereas long-chain n-alkanes (CZ2, cZ3, Cz4) were relatively dominant in the high hydrocarbon content sections (1 1.8-12.2pg/g) at depths of 45-50 and 90-95 cm. The differences in the 5Â ° values of the n-alkanes (C17-C32) analyzed by a GC-IRMS system for the high and low hydrocarbon content sections of the core (- 26.0 to- 28.5%o) were not appreciable, suggesting a common source of origin of these compounds. Normal-alkane distribution and the 5Â ° values of each n-alkane indicate that the major source of these compounds is probably a mixture of marine organisms and eroded material from older sediments. 1.