Publication
Title
Identification and carbon isotope composition of a novel branched GDGT isomer in lake sediments : evidence for lacustrine branched GDGT production
Author
Abstract
Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) are bacterial membrane lipids that occur ubiquitously in soils and lacustrine sediments and have great potential as proxy indicators for paleotemperature and pH reconstructions. Initially, brGDGTs in lakes were thought to originate from soils of the watershed. The composition of the lacustrine brGDGT pool, however, often differs substantially from that in catchment soils, complicating the application of the brGDGT paleothermometer to lake sediments. This suggests that terrigenous brGDGT signals in lacustrine sedimentary archives may be affected by aquatic in situ production. In sediments of a Swiss mountain lake, we detected a novel hexamethylated brGDGT, which elutes between the known 5- and 6-methyl brGDGT isomers during HPLC-MS analysis. This novel isomer accounted for 8.5% of the total brGDGTs. Most remarkably, this brGDGT was not detected in soils collected from the catchment of the lake, providing circumstantial evidence for an in situ brGDGT source in the lake's water column or sediments. Isolation of the compound by preparative HPLC and subsequent GC-MS analysis of the alkyl chains revealed that the novel brGDGT comprises two structural isomers. One possesses a 5,13,16- and a 6,13,16-trimethyloctacosanyl moiety and constitutes 84% of the new brGDGT; the second contains a 13,16-dimethyloctacosanyl and a 5,13,16,23-tetramethyloctacosanyl moiety. The delta C-13 values of both the alkyl chains derived from the novel brGDGT (-46 parts per thousand) and all other major brGDGTs (-43 parts per thousand to -44 parts per thousand) were significantly lower than those of brGDGT-derived alkanes in catchment soils (-27 parts per thousand to -28 parts per thousand) further attesting to in situ production of brGDGTs in the studied lake. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Geochimica et cosmochimica acta. - Oxford, 1950, currens
Publication
Oxford : 2015
ISSN
0016-7037 [print]
1872-9533 [online]
DOI
10.1016/J.GCA.2015.01.032
Volume/pages
154 (2015) , p. 118-129
ISI
000350560800008
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
PACEMAKER: Past Continental Climate Change: Temperatures from marine and lacustrine archives
Publication type
Subject
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 10.10.2017
Last edited 04.02.2023
To cite this reference