Exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum
The occurrence of intact sterols has been restricted to immature Cretaceous (~125 Ma) sediments with one report from the Late Jurassic (~165 Ma). Here we report the oldest occurrence of intact sterols in a Crustacean fossil preserved for ca. 380 Ma within a Devonian concretion. The exceptional prese...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8544 |
| _version_ | 1848745689957269504 |
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| author | Melendez, Ines Grice, Kliti Schwark, Lorenz |
| author_facet | Melendez, Ines Grice, Kliti Schwark, Lorenz |
| author_sort | Melendez, Ines |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The occurrence of intact sterols has been restricted to immature Cretaceous (~125 Ma) sediments with one report from the Late Jurassic (~165 Ma). Here we report the oldest occurrence of intact sterols in a Crustacean fossil preserved for ca. 380 Ma within a Devonian concretion. The exceptional preservation of the biomass is attributed to microbially induced carbonate encapsulation, preventing full decomposition and transformation thus extending sterol occurrences in the geosphere by 250 Ma. A suite of diagenetic transformation products of sterols was also identified in the concretion, demonstrating the remarkable coexistence of biomolecules and geomolecules in the same sample. Most importantly the original biolipids were found to be the most abundant steroids in the sample. We attribute the coexistence of steroids in a diagenetic continuum-ranging from stenols to triaromatic steroids-to microbially mediated eogenetic processes. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:21:22Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-8544 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:21:22Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-85442017-09-13T14:52:45Z Exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum Melendez, Ines Grice, Kliti Schwark, Lorenz palaeoclimate biogeochemistry sterols geochemistry The occurrence of intact sterols has been restricted to immature Cretaceous (~125 Ma) sediments with one report from the Late Jurassic (~165 Ma). Here we report the oldest occurrence of intact sterols in a Crustacean fossil preserved for ca. 380 Ma within a Devonian concretion. The exceptional preservation of the biomass is attributed to microbially induced carbonate encapsulation, preventing full decomposition and transformation thus extending sterol occurrences in the geosphere by 250 Ma. A suite of diagenetic transformation products of sterols was also identified in the concretion, demonstrating the remarkable coexistence of biomolecules and geomolecules in the same sample. Most importantly the original biolipids were found to be the most abundant steroids in the sample. We attribute the coexistence of steroids in a diagenetic continuum-ranging from stenols to triaromatic steroids-to microbially mediated eogenetic processes. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8544 10.1038/srep02768 Nature Publishing Group fulltext |
| spellingShingle | palaeoclimate biogeochemistry sterols geochemistry Melendez, Ines Grice, Kliti Schwark, Lorenz Exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum |
| title | Exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum |
| title_full | Exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum |
| title_fullStr | Exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum |
| title_short | Exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum |
| title_sort | exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum |
| topic | palaeoclimate biogeochemistry sterols geochemistry |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8544 |