Organic geochemistry of two 40-m sediment cores from the Gulf of Trieste (Northern Adriatic)

Abstract

Sediment samples from two 40-m cores drilled in two different sedimentological environments in the Gulf of Trieste (Northern Adriatic), i.e. in the salt marsh of Sečovlje and in the inner part of the Bay of Koper, were taken for geochemical analysis of organic matter. The organic geochemical analysis comprised the analyses of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus contents and the analyses of amino acid and hexosamine nitrogen and total carbohydrate contents in the samples. Parallel analyses of carbon and oxygen isotopic composition in calcite, and of the granulometric and mineralogical composition of the samples were performed. Depth variations of the distribution pattern of organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, amino acids, hexosamines and carbohydrates in the cores indicate temporal variability of organic matter deposition and transformations in a changing fluvial-brackish-marine environment in the past. The results also provide information on paleoecological changes in the Gulf during Quaternary sedimentation processes. It appears that the marine environmental conditions in the past were not markedly different from those of the present day.