Stable Carbon Isotopes in Blue-Green Algal Mats

Abstract

Blue-green algal mats have accumulated for over 1,000 years in Kleberg Point Lagoon on the margin of Baffin Bay, Texas. Organic carbon produced within the mats is isotopically heavier than the carbon associated with bay sediments. The difference between bay and mat organic carbon is preserved in the older, buried sediments, and seems to be increased by fractionation associated with anaerobic bacterial decomposition of algal mat organic matter.