Fractionation marine organic matter

Hayes JM, Strauss H, Kaufman AJ (1999) The abundance of in marine organic matter and isotopic fractionation in the global biogeochemical cycle of carbon during the past 800 Ma. ChemGeol 161 103-125... 

B. Cosovic and V. Vojvodic, Adsorption behaviour of the hydrophobic fraction of organic matter in natural waters, Marine Chem. 28(1989) 183-198. 

Skoog, A., and R. Benner. 1997. Aldoses in various size fractions of marine organic matter Implications for carbon cycling. Limnology and Oceanography 42 1803—1813. 

HMW biopolymers are part of the colloid-sized fraction of marine organic matter that can be visualized and enumerated with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (Wells and Goldberg, 1991, 1993). Colloids range in size from a few nanometers up to 1 p,m in size. Very small colloids (<30 nm) are irregular in shape, while larger colloids (—30-60 nm) are more spherical assemblies of 2-5 nm sized subparticles. Concentrations of small colloids (<200 nm) range from nondetectable (<10" colloids ml ) to... 

The largest fraction of organic matter in marine sediments remains poorly understood in terms of both its structure and biogeochemical origin. In the absence of this understanding, it is exceptionally difficult to evaluate specific mechanisms or isotope fractionation associated with its synthesis or degradation. This molecularly uncharacterized componenf (MUC) was the topic of an in-depth review by Hedges et al. 

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