The Geochemistry of Fossil Pigment Preservation (NERC grant NE/J023426/1)

These data represent a massive synchrotron based programme to study ancient life. Not all of these data have been processed yet, nor have we published all of the results that we intend to. These data are still very much a work in progress. NERC grant abstract: Building on our previous successes with identifying and mapping the chemical residues of eumelanin and beta keratin, herein we propose an analytical and experimental plan to enhance our ability to detect and image key components of soft tissue. First of all we will perform a series of experiments with extant soft tissue so that we can monitor and determine the breakdown reactions of organic compounds as a function of host lithology, moisture content, and trace metal inventory. Secondly, we will complete an analytical programme, including SRS-XRF imaging, which will include these experimental run products as well as a series of time-stepped fossil samples of varying ages and host lithology so that we may build up a database which allows us to refine our general understanding of reaction paths during fossil degradation. Because the techniques we have developed are non-destructive we now have opened up the possibility for detailed analysis of extremely rare specimens which hold important information but cannot be destructively sampled. Finally, these experimental and analytical results from fossils and comparable extant species will be combined in order to answer several critically important questions in palaeontology, biology, and geochemistry. Project partners: University of Nancy, CNRS, Prof. R. Michels Feather degradation experiments SLAC Linear Accelerator Center, Linac Coherent Light Source, Dr. U. Bergmann SRS-XRF scans of large objects and x-ray spectroscopy SLAC Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, Prof. C. Kao SRS-XRF scans of large objects DIAMOND Lightsource, Prof. Fred Mosselmans XAS spectroscopy.