Reconstructing terrestrial paleoenvironments using sedimentary organic biomarkers

Abstract

Organic geochemical biomarkers are an increasingly utilized set of tools for reconstructing past terrestrial conditions. These biomarkers can be preserved from all life, representing Archaea, Eukarya, and Bacteria, and are deposited in sediments and soils, and yet they can be separated in the laboratory for analysis of individual compounds from the same sample. Often well preserved in the geologic record, new proxies based on these “molecular fossils” extracted from sedimentary archives have allowed for the reconstruction of a wide array of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions, including but not limited to past temperature, vegetation, and hydroclimate. This review provides a brief overview of those molecular proxies that might be most applicable for terrestrial environmental conditions.