Abstract Lipids can survive long geological intervals within sediments and provide a unique tool that allows the reconstruction of past organismic diversity and environmental conditions. The lipids discussed in this review include all substances produced by organisms that are insoluble in water but extractable by organic solvents. Lipid biomarkers refer to both functionalized biolipids as well as their hydrocarbon derivatives in geological materials that contain diverse information about biotic sources and environmental conditions. In spite of diagenetic and catagenetic alteration, lipid biomarkers commonly preserve the hydrocarbon structure of their biotic counterparts and have been found in rocks up to 1.6 billion years in age. These features have promoted the use of lipid biomarkers in many fields, including petroleum geology, paleoclimatology, oceanography, meteorology, geobiology and environmental science. Here, we (i) review the use of lipid biomarker records for the reconstruction of environmental conditions in deep time, including climatic conditions (temperature), sedimentary environments (redox, salinity and chemical composition) as well as catastrophic terrestrial events (soil erosion and wildfire), and (ii) generate new insights into environmental perturbations during the Permian-Triassic transition based on investigation of lipid biomarkers. We further propose that the ratio of dibenzothiophene to phenanthrene (DBT/P) in marine carbonates may be a robust proxy for seawater sulfate concentrations in deep time. Our compiled DBT/P records show substantial variations in seawater sulfate levels through Earth history that are consistent with the results of other proxies. We discuss the future outlook for application of lipid biomarker records to deep-time environmental research.

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用于重建深时环境条件的脂质生物标志物

摘要 脂质可以在沉积物中长期存在地质间隔，并提供一种独特的工具，可以重建过去的生物多样性和环境条件。本综述中讨论的脂质包括生物体产生的所有不溶于水但可被有机溶剂提取的物质。脂质生物标志物是指地质材料中的功能化生物脂质及其碳氢化合物衍生物，其中包含有关生物来源和环境条件的各种信息。尽管发生了成岩和后生改变，但脂质生物标志物通常会保留其生物对应物的碳氢化合物结构，并且已在年龄长达 16 亿年的岩石中发现。这些特征促进了脂质生物标志物在许多领域的应用，包括石油地质学、古气候学、海洋学、气象学、地球生物学和环境科学。在这里，我们 (i) 回顾了脂质生物标志物记录在深层环境条件重建中的使用，包括气候条件（温度）、沉积环境（氧化还原、盐度和化学成分）以及灾难性的陆地事件（土壤侵蚀和野火），以及（ii）基于对脂质生物标志物的研究，对二叠纪-三叠纪过渡期间的环境扰动产生了新的见解。我们进一步提出，海洋碳酸盐中二苯并噻吩与菲的比率 (DBT/P) 可能是深海海水硫酸盐浓度的有力代表。我们汇编的 DBT/P 记录显示，地球历史上海水硫酸盐水平的显着变化与其他代理的结果一致。