Monocarboxylic acids and dicarboxylic acids in sea-floor sediments of the Jizhou Island and estuarine sediments at the Yangtze River mouth have been examined by using thin layer chromatography and gas chromatography as well as computerized gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Free and bound fatty acids distributed in the sea-floor sediments show remarkable even/odd predominances except for sample 8138. Monocarboxylic acids show a unimodal distribution, ranging from n-C14 to n-C32. with the maximum at n-C16 while dicarboxylic acids also show a unimodal distribution, ranging from di-Cl6 to di-C32 with the maximum at di-C24 or di-C28. Evidence from the distribution of fatty adds in the East China Sea sediments indicatesthat these monoearboxylic acids are probably derived from algal debris and,these dicarboxylic acids are derived from terrigenous higher plant detritus.
