Composition and Evolution of Hydrogen Isotopes of n-Akanes Generated from Anhydrous Pyrolysis of Sediments from Lake Gahai,Gannan,China

摘要

To understand the thermal evolution of lacustrine sedimentary n-alkane hydrogen isotopic composition(δD),especially bacterially derived n-alkanes,anhydrous thermal simulation experiments were performed with sediments from Lake Gahai(Gannan,China).We analyzed the original and pyrolysis-generated n-alkanes and theirδD values.The results showed that thermal maturity and n-alkane origins significantly affected the distribution of pyrolysis-generated n-alkanes.In immature to post-mature sediments,the bacterial-derived medium-chain n-alkanes generally had depletedδD values.The maximum difference in averageδD values between the bacterial-and herbaceous plant-derived medium-chain n-alkanes was 32‰,and the maximum difference in δD values among individual n-alkanes was 59‰.We found that the averageδD value of pyrolysis-generated n-alkanes from different latitude was significantly different in immature to highly mature sediments,but similar in post-mature ssediments.The hydrogen isotopes of sedimentary n-alkanes can be used as indicators for paleoclimate/paleo-environment conditions only when sediments are immature to highly mature.During thermal evolution,the δD value of generated individual n-alkanes and the averageδD value increased with thermal maturity,indicating that hydrogen isotopes of sedimentary n-alkanes can be used as an index of organic matter maturity.We established mathematical models of average δD values of generated n-alkanes from immature to post-mature sediments using n C_(21)^(-)/nC_(21)^(+)and average chain lengths.These results improve our understanding of the distribution andδD value of sedimentary n-alkanes derived from herbaceous plants in mid-latitude plateau cold regions.