Nonprevalence of biochemical fossils in kerogen from pre-Phanerozoic sediments.

Evidence of biochemical and geochemical evolution was sought in insoluble carbonaceous matter from 30 selected pre-Phanerozoic sediments ranging in age from about 3.8 to about 0.7 x 10(9) years. The carbon isotope ratios observed were in the range of -20 to -32 per mil with reference to the Peedee belemnite standard, similar to those previously reported. No systematic trends are obvious to us. Stepwise pyrolysis-gas-chromatography showed only molecules with fewer than 8 carbon atoms at the level of sensitivity of 10(-9) g of organics in a 10 mg rock sample. Carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen analyses showed noncarbonate carbon from less than 0.1% to more than 3%, with very small amounts of N. The H/C (atomic) ratios on HCl-leached and HF-treated samples were generally less than 0.3. Evidence of low pyrolysis yields (micro-analysis) and low H/C atomic ratios (macro-analysis) implies that the carbonaceous solids in even the least metamorphosed of these ancient sediments have evolved far toward amorphous carbon or graphite and do not yield useful "biochemical fossils."