GENERAL AND SPECIFIC BIOMARKERS IN SOME TERTIARY FOSSIL WOODS FROM CANADIAN ARCTIC

Four fossil woods, between 55 and 65 million years old, coming from th e Canadian Arctic regions were analysed with respect to their dichloro methane extract components. In comparison with the extracts of younger fossils they contained only a limited number of components which belo nged, furthermore, to relatively few classes of compounds namely aliph atic hydrocarbons, fatty acids, long chain alcohols and diterpenes. Th e fossil identified as a Douglas fir had only one of the expected comp ounds owing, perhaps, to the rather low amount of extractives or terpe nes in the original wood. Another fossil, might have been a spruce, wh ile of the remaining two unidentified fossils one could be attributed to a terpene-rich species (e. g. larch) while the other to a species r ich in extractives different from diterpenes, However, much more data, based on samples taken from various locations and with a different co mposition of extractives are needed in order to determine the influenc e of a specific environment on aging.