Organic geochemistry is the study of the impacts and processes that organisms have had on the Earth. The study of organic geochemistry is usually traced to the work of Alfred E. Treibs, "the father of organic geochemistry." Treibs first isolated metalloporphyrins from petroleum. This discovery established the biological origin of petroleum, which was previously poorly understood. Metalloorphyrins in general are highly stable organic compounds, and the detailed structures of the extracted derivatives made clear that they originated from chlorophyll.
The relationship between the occurrence of organic compounds in sedimentary deposits and petroleum deposits has long been of interest. Studies of ancient sediments and rock provide insights into the origins and sources of oil petroleum geochemistry and the biochemical antecedents of life.
Modern organic geochemistry includes studies of recent sediments to understand the carbon cycle, climate change, and ocean processes.
Famous quotes containing the word organic:
“When life has been well spent, age is a loss of what it can well spare,—muscular strength, organic instincts, gross bulk, and works that belong to these. But the central wisdom, which was old in infancy, is young in fourscore years, and dropping off obstructions, leaves in happy subjects the mind purified and wise.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)