An integrated biochemical, geochemical, and sedimentological study of organic diagenesis in sediments from Leg 112

Abstract

About 60% of the organic carbon in sediments from <1m can be attributed to hydrolyzable, biochemical constituents, while at 22m this figure decreased to 20%. Overall, the organic matter in these sediments, even at these shallow depths and young ages, has many of the geochemical features of far more deeply buried sediments, providing further strong evidence for the claim that "kerogen-formation' is a very early diagenetic process. -from Authors