Purines and pyrimidines in sediments from lake erie

Quantitative analyses of purines and pyrimidines in sequential sections of cores from the central and eastern basins of Lake Erie show steeply increasing concentrations in the youngest sediments. This may be related to increased loading of nutrients and recent cultural eutrophication of the lake. The purine and pyrimidine distributions suggest the operation of a specific degradative process for uracil at an extremely early stage in, or prior to, sediment formation.