Evidence from carbon isotope measurements for biological origins of individual long-chain n-alkanes in sediments from the Nansha Sea, China

Carbon isotopes are measured for individual long-chain n-alkanes in sediments from the Nansha Sea. The features of carbon isotopic compositions of individual n-alkanes and their origins are studied. The results show that the long-chain n-alkanes have a light carbon isotopic composition and a genetic feature of mixing sources, and low-latitude higher plants and microbes are considered to be their main end member sources. Based on the abundances and carbon isotopic compositions of individual n-alkanes, the fractional contributions of the two end member sources to individual n-alkanes are quantitatively calculated by using a mixing model. The obtained data indicate that the fractional contributions of the two biological sources are different in the three samples. A trend is that the contribution of microbes increases with the depth. These results provide the theory basis and quantitatively studied method for carbon isotopic applied research of individual n-alkanes.