Abstract
Organic matter in sediments has to be regarded as the residue of organic life, and is, in the geological sense, a fossil. An exception to this rule may be carbonaceous material produced in early Precambrian times by abiotic processes taking place before the first living cells came into existence. Therefore, organic matter may be found in sediments even older than organized organic life. At present we find it in fossil form in sediments as old as 3 × 109 years. Organic carbon became more important and more abundant with the development and diversification of life.
Editors’ Note: Dr. Welte suffered a prolonged illness shortly after preparing the Chapter outline printed here. This illness unfortunately prevented him from writing the complete Chapter.
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© 1969 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Welte, D.H. (1969). Organic Matter in Sediments. In: Eglinton, G., Murphy, M.T.J. (eds) Organic Geochemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87734-6_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87734-6_12
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