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FORMATION OF AMBER
According to the scientists, Baltic amber is resin of conifers, which solidified 50 million years ago during Eocene epoch. It is believed that at that time northern part of the Europe was an integral land, also called Fennoscandia. Huge forests were growing there.Rivers washed collected resin from forest soil to south towards the sea. During years and processes of oxidation and polymerization, resin deteriorated into amber. Baltic Sea amber formed from mentioned conifers’ resin during 2 million years, gained various forms, colours and sometimes even “housed” various fossils. According to the scientists, “colours and clarity of amber was influenced by changes in leaking resin: volatile elements, which evaporated from clear resin, could have formed millions of micro gas bubbles, which “roiled” resin (yellow amber)”.During this process very many bubbles (up to 1 million) could have formed, and so it deteriorated into white amber. Bluish amber appeared when additions of pyrite (FeS2) got into resin in the soil. Besides, bluish amber is very rarely found. Black amber formed when resin got mixed with soil, green – with plants. Amber – is a witness of an old past of our land history.Amber formation processes are indicated according to a natural form of amber. They can be of an inside or outside origin. Inside origin amber formed when resin have filled gaps inside a tree and gaps between trunk and bark. Outside origin amber formed when resin were flowing from damaged places. Most interesting drops of amber are “Amber teardrops”, which formed when resin drops lost touch from general resin flow on the trunk. It is defined that periodic flow of resin was in layers – in such pieces now inclusions are mostly found.Inclusion (in latin - inclusus) – living organisms, stagnated in amber (usually invertebrate, but may be also vertebrate). Plants and organisms in amber are conserved 50 million years ago. Around 86% of inclusions are insects, 12% - spiders, 1.5% - other organisms, 0.5% - plants. It is defined that DNA remained in inclusion even during 2 million years.
Picture from www.amberauction.com
