Most of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the oceans is of a refractory nature and represents that faction of marine biological productivity that has survived microbial mineralization. Williams and Druffel (1987) deduced that only a small fraction of DOM originates form exchange with the terrestrial carbon pool. Wet chemical degradations such as the CuO method have been used to identify DOM components derived from lignin, a major carbon source in the terrestrial biosphere (Meyers-Schulte and Hedges, 1986). Recently, another procedure has been outlined for the quantitative estimation and characterization of lignin- off-line thermochemolysis with tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) in sealed glass ampoules (Hatcher et al., 1995). This procedure induces B(Beta)-O-4 ether bond lysis in lignin, releasing lignin-derived monomers in much the same way as the CuO oxidation procedure. The primary focus of this paper centers on demonstrating the value of the TMAH thermochemolysis as a rapid, low-cost, and easily implemented technique to trace lignin in DOM.

Póster presentado en el 18th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry. Part II. Abstracts, 22-26 septiembre 1997 (Maastricht) The Netherlands

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