your insights are right on the money. heres some cool info for you on sulfur compounds in cannabis. i normally dont like hype strains, but having grown gelato 33 it def reeks.
A new study is offering one of the most comprehensive investigations ever conducted into the chemical origins of cannabis' unique “skunk-like” smell. The study reveals an entirely new family of sulfur compounds accounts for the novel odor and these molecules are chemically similar to aroma…
newatlas.com
the first link is an article summary the second is the full paper. continuing on the soil, not only the content of fungi/bacteria facilitates, but also the swampy nature comes into play as well. using skunk cabbage as a comparison, the sulfur compounds thrive in acidic aerobic environments. so the boggy ness is key. now calcium oxalate is mentioned in the article as a key component of the skunk cabbage leaf which aids in plant protect, but also encourages the formation of these compounds. now a lot of plants which have volatile sulfur compounds deploy them in order to attract specific rare pollinators ie beetles and flies as opposed to bees butterfly etc. the carrion odor produced for these pollinators mimic smell of dead/decaying odors which these pollinators thrive on. in fact skunk cabbage is thermogenic- able to produce its own heat source which increases the range and content of these compounds for attraction. in this way the hps and high temperatures mentioned certainly amplified the smells. i find it interesting that kentucky/ohio/ virginia were many times the source of these rks acclimated lines. in the 1800s chinese hemp was brought in to kentucky. this is relevant because asian hemp as been shown to produce piperdine, which as a member of the amine family has incredibly pungent smell and attracts flies. is it possible that there was admixture with the afghan/mexican hybrids in these areas? and did the specific anaerobic bacteria in the swampy environment cause the skunk lines to transform and metabolize these asian hemp like profiles.
the article also points out the similarity between garlic/onion and skunk smell. these profiles are found in guerrero landraces, and according the sam the ratman, the Colombian gold x afghan hybrid was put to aco gold as the final step for sk1. since a golds close proximity to guerrero , maybe the Mexican component is more important .mountain organics has the real deal a gold and has used "beaver musk" to describe its profile. outside of the roadkill name, rks description sometimes skips over the skunk part. to me, the immediate and drastic skunk musk odor of roadkill is mostly due to all of the skunk musk being released at once due to the pressure of being run over. sulfur compounds and amines in plants are designed to attract far away pollinators in plants in the same way a skunks spray is immediately detected in animals as a deterrent. very cool research man