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Component characteristics of organic matter in hydrothermal barnacle shells from Southwest Indian Ridge

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Abstract

In 2008–2009, hydrothermal barnacle and sediment samples were collected from the Southwest Indian Ridge during a survey of the China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association (COMRA). Samples were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS), revealing the main organic constituents of hydrothermal barnacle and sediment to be fatty acids and alkylbenzenes. N-alkanes which possessed obvious even carbon advantage were also detected in hydrothermal sediment. The high concentrations of aromatic compounds might be the result of macromolecular thermal alteration. Microorganism in the submarine hydrothermal ecosystem, especially those related to sulfur metabolism, might be the source of the high concentrations of fatty acids detected in these samples. In high temperature and high pressure hydrothermal environments, n-alkanes which possessed obvious even carbon advantage might originate from thermal alteration of carboxylic acids and other lipid compounds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Xin Huang, Zhigang Zeng, Shuai Chen, Xuebo Yin, Xiaoyuan Wang, Huijing Zhao, Baoju Yang, Kunbo Rong & Yao Ma

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xin Huang, Huijing Zhao, Baoju Yang, Kunbo Rong & Yao Ma

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  1. Xin Huang
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  2. Zhigang Zeng
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Correspondence to Zhigang Zeng.

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Foundation item: The National Key Basic Research Program of China under contract No. 2013CB429700; National Special Fund for the 12th Five Year Plan of COMRA under contract Nos DY125-12-R-02 and DY125-11-R-05; Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation of China for Distinguished Young Scholars under contract No. JQ200913; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 40830849, 40976027 and 40906029.

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Huang, X., Zeng, Z., Chen, S. et al. Component characteristics of organic matter in hydrothermal barnacle shells from Southwest Indian Ridge. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 32, 60–67 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-013-0388-z

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