An Investigation of the Environment and Nature of the Fat-Soluble Pigments in the Sediments of the Reed Lake
author: David Thomas Mason
advisors: G.F. Gwilliam, Helen A. Stafford
year: 1958
ABSTRACT: Environmental studies of the surface sediments of the Reed Lake allow the muds to be characterized as: watery, dark, pH close to neutrality, oxygenless, carbonateless, containing a moderate amount of iron, and of relatively uniform temperature. Such conditions are very good for the preservation of the fat-soluble pigments, the chlorophylls and the carotenoids.
A chromatographic study of the pigments found in the sediments and the possible sediment sources indicates that the gross ratio of carotenes to xanthophylls is maintained from source to sediment, but slightly altered probably by the destruction of xanthophylls.