Content, type, and thermal evolution of organic matter in sediments from the eastern Falkland Plateau, Deep Sea Drilling Project, Leg 71.

Abstract

The quantity, type, and maturity of the organic matter in Recent through Upper Jurassic sediments from the Falkland Plateau, DSDP Site 511, have been determined. Three main classes of organic matter can be determined by a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of microscopic and geochemical results. A comparison with contemporaneous sediments of DSDP Site 361, Cape Basin, which was the basin adjacent and to the north of the Falkland Plateau during the early stages of the South Atlantic Ocean, demonstrates differences in sedimentological features and in the nature of sedimentary organic matter. We interpret these differences to be the result of the different geological settings for Sites 361 and 511. -from Authors