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Molecular palaeontology
Author(s) -
CURRY GORDON B.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
geology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.188
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1365-2451
pISSN - 0266-6979
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2451.1987.tb00480.x
Subject(s) - geology , paleontology , organic molecules , earth science , molecule , chemistry , organic chemistry
A series of major advances in biology and organic geochemistry has yielded new and extremely powerful methods of recovering, purifying and identifying organic compounds. As a result it is now possible to extract considerable information from the vast reservoir of organic material present in rocks and fossils. New procedures allowing detailed investigation of the structure, composition and interrelationships of living molecules can also provide invaluable information on a timescale of geological proportions.