C4-C7 alkenones in deep sea sediments

• Main Author: Hunt, John M
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 1975
• Subjects: 1-3; 22-217; 22-218; 24-233A; 26-250A; 26-254; 29-280A; 29-282; 31-299; 5-34; Antarctic Ocean/CONT RISE; Antarctic Ocean/Tasman Sea; Deep Sea Drilling Project; DRILL; Drilling/drill rig; DSDP; Glomar Challenger; Gulf of Mexico/PLAIN; Indian Ocean//BASIN; Indian Ocean//FAN; Indian Ocean//RIDGE; Indian Ocean/Gulf of Aden/TRENCH; Leg1; Leg22; Leg24; Leg26; Leg29; Leg31; Leg5; North Pacific/Japan Sea; North Pacific/PLAIN; Antarctic; Pacific; Indian; Antarctic Ocean; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.770334; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.770334

It is believed that C4 to C7 hydrocarbons in petroleum are formed by the cracking of organic matter at depths generally exceeding 1,000 m at temperatures in excess of 50 °C (Cordel, 1972; Dow, 1974; Tissot et al., 1974)). Also, none of the alkanes in the butane-heptane range are formed biologically as far as is known at present. Consequently, it is thought that they do not occur in shallow, Recent sediments. In 1962, I analysed 22 samples of Recent sediments from 7 different environments and verified that these hydrocarbons were not present at the p.p.m. level (Dunton and Hunt, 1962) although traces of a few hydrocarbons such as butane, isobutane, isopentane and n-heptane have been found (Sokolov, 1957; Veber and Turkeltaub, 1958; Erdman et al., 1958; Emery and Hoggan, 1958). No identification of individual hexanes or heptanes has been reported except when there has been clear evidence of seepage from deeper source sediments (McIver, 1973).