Amino acids in the sedimentary humic and fulvic acids

Humic and fulvic acids isolated from a few sediment samples from Arabian Se a and Bay of Bengal were analysed for total hydrolysable amino acids concen tration and their composition. The amino acids content of fulvic acids was higher than in the humic acids in the coastal Arabian Sea sediments; wherea s amino acids content of fulvic acids was lower than that of humic acids in the coastal sediments of Bay of Bengal. Slope sedimentary humic acids were relatively enriched in amino acids as compared to the coastal sedimentary humic acids implying higher association of amino acids with the carbonaceou s and fine grained sedimentary humic acids. Both the humic and fulvic acids are composed of neutral, acidic, basic, aromatic and sulphur containing am ino acids. Low molecular weight, as compared to higher molecular weight, fr actions of humic acids indicated higher abundance of amino acids. Lysine, a spartic acid and the straight chain-glycine and alanine were the major basi c, acidic and neutral amino acids, respectively.