The Distribution of Major Organic Nutrie?its 207 



merits were treated witli acid and again extracted with etlier, 

 a second fraction (the so-called "bound lipid") was obtained. 

 This fraction was greater in amount than the "free lipid," and 

 showed a slightly greater increase with depth. 



Certain other environments have been studied in less detail. 

 Cores from the Gulf of California have had the greatest amount 

 of organic matter of any sediments we have yet examined. The 

 samples have been from short cores, and therefore no deep trends 

 can be seen. However, the per cent of lipid in "bound" form 

 increases strikingly with depth (Table 1). 



TABLE 1 



Biochemical Analyses — Gulf of California Samples 



Sediments from nineteen cores from the Cariaco Trench are 

 currently being analyzed. Table 2 shows some results to date 

 on four of these cores. The correlations between these samples 

 are quite complex, so no definite interpretation of trends has yet 

 been made. Of particular interest is Core 2 below eleven feet. 

 This core penetrated an oxidized layer (possibly Pleistocene) 

 wherein the organic matter was markedly diminished. This older 

 layer, however, continues to show the increase in per cent bound 

 lipids noted before. 



Further interesting results have been obtained from analysis 

 of two cores from Norwegian waters. One core, NT-1 (2.3 ft in 

 length), was taken in 372 fathoms in Voldcnfjord about 40 km 

 south of Alesund. The other core, NT-2 ( 14 ft. ) , is from the 

 mouth of the Norwegian Trough in the North Sea. The water 

 depth here was 250 fathoms. Data from these cores are shown 

 in Table 3. The concentrations of the biochemical fractions in 



