Stankiewicz, B.A., Scott, A.C., Collinson, M.E., Finch, P., Mösle, B., Briggs, D.E.G. and Evershed, R.P. (1998) The molecular taphonomy of Carboniferous animal and plant cuticles from North America. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 155 (3).
Full text access: Open
Analyses of identifiable organic fossil remains of animals and plants have considerable potential to resolve conflicting models of organic matter diagenesis and kerogen formation (e.g. selective preservation versus random polymerization). Fossil cuticles of arthropods (scorpion, eurypterid) and plants (cordaite, pteridosperm) from Upper Carboniferous strata of Lone Star Lake, Kansas, USA and Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada were analysed by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and examined by electron microscopy. Recent Pandinus (scorpion) and Araucaria (conifer) provided a basis for comparison. Pyrolysis of Recent dewaxed scorpion cuticle yielded products derived from chitin and proteins. These products were absent in the fossil arthropod cuticles, however, which yielded an homologous series of alkanes and alkenes, together with phenolic and other aromatic constituents. Recent dewaxed plant cuticle yielded fatty acids, phenols and carbohydrate-derived compounds indicative of cutin polyester and associated lignocellulose. The pyrolysates of the fossil plant cuticles, on the other hand, were dominated by alkane-alkene doublets, with minor phenolic and other benzenoid components. There is no evidence that the preservation of these cuticles as particulate organic matter in kerogen is simply a result of selective preservation. Nonetheless, the chemistry and morphology remain characteristic of a particular taxon, hereby eliminating the possibility of incorporation of randomly repolymerized materials or the transfer of material between plant and animal residues. The aliphatic moieties in the fossil cuticles are thought to be the result of polymerization of the associated epicuticular, cuticular and/or tissue lipids during diagenesis.
This is a Published version This version's date is: 05/1998 This item is peer reviewed
https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/fc5a5812-621a-b91d-2d42-8e62079f3b1b/1/
Deposited by () on 23-Dec-2009 in Royal Holloway Research Online.Last modified on 23-Dec-2009
This material has been published in Journal of the Geological Society 155, 453-462, the only definitive repository of the content that has been certified and accepted after peer review. (Copyright © 1998 The Geological Society of London) Research Group website: http://www.gl.rhul.ac.uk/palaeo/palaeo.html
Archer A, 1991, Kansas Geological Survey, file 91-22, 89-94 Baas M, 1995, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, V59, 945-951 Bartram KM, 1987, J Geological Society London, V144, 513-517 Beck CB, 1988, Origin and Evolution of Gymnosperms. Columbia U.P., NY. Briggs DEG, 1995, Lethaia, V28, 15-23 Collinson ME, 1994, Geological Society Special Publ, V77, 31-70 Collinson ME, 1991, Systematics Ass Special Publ 44, 119-150 Deleeuw JW, 1991, Philos Trans Royal Society B, V333, 329-337 Derrene S, 1991, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, V55, 1041-1050 Filshie BK, 1979, Tissue Cell, V11, 249-262 Hadley NF, 1981, Biological Reviews, V56, 23-47 Holloway PJ, 1982, Linnean Soc Symposium Series, V10, 45-86 Jeram AJ, 1994, Palaeontology, V37, 513-550 Kerp H, 1990, Palaios, V5, 548-569 Kolattukudy PE, 1976, Chemistry and Biochemistry of Natural Waxes, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1-12 Largeau C, 1990, Organic Geochemistry, V16, 889-895 Lichtfouse E, 1996, Organic Geochemistry, V25, 263-265 Logan WE, 1845, P T Nova Scotian I S, V11, P419 Lyell C, 1853, Quart J Geological Society Lond, V9, 58-63 Mapes G, 1989, American J Botany, V76, 169-170 Mckinney DE, 1996, Organic Geochemistry, V24, 641-650 Moore PD, 1991, Pollen Analysis. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford. Mosle B, 1997, J Analytic Applied Pyrolysis, V40, 585-597 Neville AC, 1993, Biology of Fibrous Composites. Cambridge U.P. Nip M, 1986, Naturwissenschaften, V73, 579-585 Nip M, 1986, Organic Geochemistry, V10, 769-778 Rolfe WDI, 1982, 9th International Carboniferous Conference, Urbana 1978, 303-316 Ryan RJ, 1991, Bulletin Canadian Petroleum Geology, V39, P289-314 Schaefer J, 1987, Science, V235, 1200-1204 Scott AC, 1994, Geology Today, V10, 213-217 Scott AC, 1984, Trans Leeds Geological Association, V10, 1-16 Stankiewicz BA, 1997, Energy and Fuels, V11, 515-521 Stankiewicz BA, 1997, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, V61, 2247-2252 Stankiewicz BA, 1998, In Press Organic Geochemistry Stankiewicz BA, 1997, New Phytology, V135, 375-393 Stankiewicz BA, 1996, Rapid Commun Mass Spectrometry, V10, 1747-1757 Stankiewicz BA, 1997, Science, V276, 1541-1543 Tegelaar EW, 1989, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, V53, 3103-3106 Tegelaar EW, 1989, J Analytic Applied Pyrolysis, V15, 289-295 Tegelaar EW, 1991, Paleobiology, V17, 133-144 Tissot B, 1984, Petroleum Formation and Occurrence. Springer, Berlin. Vanbergen PF, 1995, Acta Botanica Neerl, V44, 319-342 Vanbergen PF, 1994, Organic Geochemistry, V21, 117-121 Vanlandingham SL, 1961, U Kansas Science Bull, V42, 925-991 Walton TJ, 1990, Methods Plant Biochemistry, V4, 105-158 Wills LJ, 1964, Palaeontology, V7, 474-507 Wills LJ, 1960, Palaeontology, V3, 276-333 Wills LJ, 1959, Palaeontology, V1, 261-328