We mainly use biomarkers to study the paleoenvironmental evolution of different areas of the Iberian Peninsula. Biological marker molecules (biomarkers) comprise chemical records of organisms in the ancient environment: they are organic compounds linked to a specific biotic source that retain their source information after being buried in sediments, even after some alteration. Biomarkers in geologically ancient sediments and rocks are generally stabilized derivatives of their precursor compounds. They include families of organic compounds such as hydrocarbons, ketones, fatty acids, hopanes or steranes, although monospecific compounds such as the dehydroabietic acid botriococane or gammacerane, among others, are also considered biomarkers of specific plants.
They are generally extracted using organic solvents such as dichloromethane or methanol and analyzed using a gas chromatograph with a mass selective detector (GC/MS).
