Amber is a fossilized resin, not tree sap as is the common misconception. Sap is the fluid that circulates through a plant's vascular system, while the resin is the semi-solid amorphous organic substance secreted in pockets and canals through epithelial cells of the plant.
The process starts when the tree becomes damaged, the bark penetrated, amber is leached out slowly which ooze to the base of the tree or fall off when the resin hardens and the little nod gels are knocked off. Volatile fractions in the resins evaporate over time and dissipate under natural forest conditions, leaving the non volatile residue fractions to become fossilized, provided of course they are stable enough to withstand degradation and natural erosion long enough for the fossilisation to take place. The fossil resin becomes incorporated into sediments and soils, which over millions of years change into rock such as shale and sandstone.
Basically amber is formed as a result of the fossilization of resin that that takes millions of years and involves a progressive oxidation and polymerization of the original organic compounds, oxygenated hydrocarbons. Although a specific time interval has not been established for this process, the majority of amber is found within Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary rocks(approximately 30-90 million years old).
Amber is known to mineralogists as succinite, from the Latin succinum, which means amber. Heating amber will soften it and eventually it will burn, a fact that has given rise to the name of bernstein, by which the Germans know amber. Rubbing amber with a cloth will make it electric, attracting bits of paper. The Greek name for amber is elektron, or the origin of our word electricity. Amber is a poor conductor of heat and feels warm to the touch (minerals feel cool). The modern name for amber is thought to come from the Arabic word, amber, meaning ambergris.
Amber has fascinated Archaeologists looking at trade and trade routes throughout the ancient worlds, whilst palaeontologists have been fascinated by the occasional trapped insect, inclusions. Chemists have been fascinated by its various physical properties, when rubbed it retains static, it has a low melting point whilst Organic chemists investigate the physical and chemical properties. Botanists and entomologists examine the botanical sources of amber and embalmed insects and debris. Poets, writers, and artists look to amber for sunny inspirations. Gemologists and jewelers desire amber for its beauty and rarity. Curators and conservationists preserve and archive amber.
Why not attain your very own little piece of this fascinating world, it isn't as expensive as you might think! |
