The carbon isotopic composition of individual n-alkanes in marsh environment

In the late 1980s the introduction of a new isotopic analytical technique of GC-C-MS that can determine the carbon isotopic composition at the molecular level has led to the appearence of the stable carbon isotopic geochemistry of biomarker compounds as a new field of scientific research. The relationship between the carbon isotopic compositions of biomarker compounds and biological precursors and diagenetic evolution is one of the key problems in this research field. Some studies on this problem have been carried out abroad in terms of organisms and modern sediments as well as the experiments of thermal simulation. Studied results show that the carbon isotopic compositions of biomarker compounds in the sediments are closely related to those in biological precursors and diagenetic evolution. For example, Reiley et al. have examined the carbon