Sedimentary siloxanes: A depositional history

A Puget Sound sediment core has been quantitatively analyzed for organic silicon content, as derived from post-1945 release of poly(organo)-siloxanes (silicones). The sedimentary silicone data record and preserve at depth, a smeared event horizon, or first appearance of silicone in the sediment column. Core samples older than 50 years showed no detectable silicone as measured by a new procedure utilizing inductively coupled plasma (ICP) emission spectroscopy after solvent extraction to collect the silicone from gram-sized sediment core samples.