Dr. Kate French
USGS

Topic: Using sedimentary organic matter for depositional models of organic carbon burial, reconstructions of Earth’s past, and the search for life on other planets.

Academic host: Lisa Mayhew

Abstract: Sedimentary organic matter is made up of the molecular remnants of past ecosystems and environments. Diagnostic organic molecules (i.e., biomarkers) preserved in ancient sediments provide a diversity of information with applications across a range of subject areas, including investigating processes of organic carbon burial, reconstructing ancient ecosystems and environments, informing resource assessments, and searching for evidence of life on other planets. This presentation will provide an overview of ongoing studies of the Cretaceous Eagle Ford Shale to illustrate how bulk organic and inorganic geochemistry can be combined with molecular organic geochemistry to inform depositional models of organic enrichment in mudstones, past carbon cycle perturbations like the Cenomanian–Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE-2), and petroleum system analysis. The presentation will also show how terrestrial studies of organic biomarkers influence the search for biosignatures on other planets, specifically planning for samples returned from Mars.