Abstract
Cyclic components of the ‘aliphatic’ hydrocarbon mixtures extracted from Puget Sound sediment cores include a suite of C 19 and C 20 diterpenoid hydrocarbons of which fichtelite. sandaracopimaradiene, and isopimaradiene have been identified. Although apparently also derived from vascular plants, these diterpenoid hydrocarbons have relative abundances distinctly different from the co-existing plant wax n-alkane suite. Five C 27, C 28 and C 29 diasteranes and four C 29, C 30 and C 31 17α(H), 21β(H) hopanes occur in relatively constant proportion as components of a highly weathered fossil hydrocarbon assemblage. These chromatographically resolved cycloalkanes. along with the strongly covarying unresolved complex mixture, have been introduced to Puget Sound sediments from adjacent urban centres at increasing levels over the last 100 yr in the absence of any major oil spill. Naturally-occurring triterpenoid hydrocarbons, including hop-22(29)-ene (diploptene), are also present. A new group of C 30 polyenes has been detected which contains compounds apparently structurally related to a co-existing bicyclic C 25 diene and to C 20 and C 25 acyclic multibranched hydrocarbons described in a previous paper ( Barrick et al., 1980).
Published Version
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