Preservation of chitin in 25-million-year-old fossils

被引：140

作者：

Stankiewicz, BA

Briggs, DEG

Evershed, RP

Flannery, MB

Wuttke, M

机构：

[1] UNIV BRISTOL, SCH CHEM, ORGAN GEOCHEM UNIT, BRISTOL BS8 1TS, AVON, ENGLAND

[2] LANDESAMT DENKMALPFLEGE RHEINLANDPFLAZ, ERDGESCHICHTLICHE DENKMALPFLEGE, D-55126 MAINZ, GERMANY

来源：

SCIENCE | 1997年 / 276卷 / 5318期

关键词：

D O I：

10.1126/science.276.5318.1541

中图分类号：

O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

Chitin is present in fossil insects from the Oligocene (24.7 million years ago) lacustrine shales of Enspel, Germany. This result, which was obtained by analytical pyrolysis, extends by nearly 25 million years the length of time that chemically detectable remains of this biomolecule are known to survive, The embedding sediment is dominated by diatoms, which reflect high productivity in the paleolake. The primary control on the preservation of chitin is thus not time; it may persist in older sediments where suitable paleoenvironmental conditions prevailed.

引用

页码：1541 / 1543

页数：3

共 26 条

[1] SELECTIVE PRESERVATION OF CHITIN DURING THE DECAY OF SHRIMP [J].