A comparative study of the stable carbon isotopes, the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons and the normal fatty acids in four differentiated organic phases (designated in this report as bitumens A, B, C and D) from Windy Knoll, Derbyshire, England, shows the following: 1.(1) The average abundances of 13C (relative to the P.D.B. standard and in parts per thousand) in the bitumens vary from −28.0 (bitumen B) to −30.7 (bitumen C) well within the range of petroleum.2.(2) Isoprenoid hydrocarbons are present in bitumen A (C14 - C21; 198 p.p.m.), bitumen B (C15 - C20; 11 p.p.m.), bitumen C (C15 - C23; 157 p.p.m.) and bitumen D (C16, C18 - C23; 515 p.p.m.)3.(3) Normal alkanes are present in bitumen A (<C11 - C30; 1,850 p.p.m.) and bitumen B (C12 - C23; 31 p.p.m.) but were not detected in bitumens C and D.4.(4) Aromatic hydrocarbons are present in bitumen B (alkyl substituted naphthalenes, biphenyl and phenanthrene; 4 p.p.m.) and bitumen D (dimethyl naphthalene and phenanthrene; 2 p.p.m.) but were not observed in bitumens A and C.5.(5) Normal fatty acids were observed in bitumen A (C10 - C18; 2 p.p.m.), bitumen B (C9 - C22; 77 p.p.m.) bitumen C (C10 - C18; 34 p.p.m.) and bitumen D (C10 - C18; 6 p.p.m.). The fatty acids in bitumens A and D have a pronounced even-over-odd carbon number preference.

Acid hydrolyzates of aqueous extracts indicated: glycine, alanine, glutamic acid, serine, aspartic acid, threonine, and α,β-diaminopropionic acid. The sources of these amino acids may be terrestrial contaminants, fuel exhaust products, or indigenous lunar material. The lunar particles found in the sample include: (i) spherules, rotational ellipsoids, dumbbells, tear-drops, rings, and crescents which have (ii) diameters of 0.1 to 500 microns; (iii) budlike features on the particles; and (iv) chemical inhomogeneity (electron probe). Some of the processes and results inferred for the moon have been simulated by the electron beam and low pressure of the electron microscope. Basalt (Kilauea-Iki) and chondrite (Orgueil) have been found to behave similarly.

Carbonaceous complex use as indicators of geothermal history and high temperature organic geochemistry

The type I carbonaceous chondrites, with volatiles between 24 and 30% (at 1000 C, N2 atm.), contain the maximum percentage of the low-temperature ground mass, in which the high-temperature minerals are dispersed as ‘microchondrules’. In the type II carbonaceous chondrites (vol. 12–24%), the loosely cohering aggregates of microchondrules, ‘grape-bunch chondrules’, reach a maximum. The type III carbonaceous chondrites and some enstatite chondrites (vol. 2–12%) contain the maximum of the ‘partly coalesced chondrules’, in which microchondrules of olivine and nickel-iron appear. The ureilites are interpreted as impact shocked aggregates of microchondrules in differing states of coalescence. The ‘fully coalesced chondrules’ are characteristic for the ordinary chondrites with volatiles below 1%.