Where is the origin of amber in China? What are the origins of amber?

Distribution of several main producing areas of amber in the world

Amber is a fossil formed by the resin of ancient coniferous plants through geological processes. Amber is irregular, polygonal, yellow or dark brown. In life, amber can be collected as decoration and used as medicine in traditional Chinese medicine. Amber can be divided into sea amber and mine amber according to its origin, which are mainly distributed in Baltic Sea, Russia, Dominica, China, Liaoning, Fushun and other places.

Human society has long been interested in natural amber. British archaeologists found amber in ancient tombs more than 65438+2000 years ago. Archaeologists can find traces of amber products in Baltic countries. The ancient Egyptians also went north to the Baltic Sea for amber exploration. About BC 1600, the amber trade route extended to ancient Greece.

Natural amber absorbs sunlight and rain when it is formed. Compared with other fossils, it can completely and clearly wrap all kinds of ecological circles. Through it, we can feel the world tens of millions of years ago.

The formation of natural amber can be simply divided into three parts: resin->; copal fat->； The resin secreted by amber from trees has a strong fragrance. It is liquid and can flow. A drop of resin becomes a polymer. This polymer gradually hardens to form coba fat; When trees die, Copa gum is buried in soil and sediments, loses its volatility and petrifies for a long time to form amber. Many scientists believe that the most important factor of amber formation is time, and the process of fossilization takes at least 2 million years to100000 years. But now science has proved that the formation of amber has a lot to do with the surrounding environment and the sediments in which they are located.

In chronological order:

Amber from the Isle of Wight, England

Scientists' great interest in amber on the Isle of Wight stems from its age. It comes from the Mesozoic Cretaceous period1.300 million years ago. Their main color is brown, with a transparent yellow vortex, and contains many plant fragments and pyrite crystals.

Amber was also found in Musdas and Sussex in England for a longer time, about 65.438+0.4 billion years ago, but no insects were found in it.

Lebanese amber

Lebanese amber is mainly yellow and contains many cracks, which makes amber very fragile. Similar amber has been found in the Middle East, Israel and Jordan. Insects found in Lebanese amber are also of great significance, because they came from the late Mesozoic Cretaceous period 1 100 million years ago. This fragile amber, which produces little, has almost no jewelry value.

myanmar amber

Burmese amber is mainly dark orange or dark red. Amber blocks contain plant fragments. Most of them were mined in the middle abyss of Hukawang Valley in northern Myanmar in the early 20th century. According to the scientific examination of submarine microfossils and extinct insect species polymerized by amber in Myanmar, its age is about 60 million to 65.438+0.2 billion years.

Amber from Sicily, Italy

Amber in Sicily is mostly orange or red. But there will be green, blue and black. Generally speaking, beeswax is relatively rare and transparent. After polishing, their surfaces are very dazzling. The age is about 60-90 million years.

China Hupo

China amber is mostly transparent, orange or red. There are large pieces of China amber carvings in the American Museum of Natural History, which are very beautiful. Amber containing insects can be collected near Fushun, Liaoning Province. Between 35 million and 57 million years.

Baltic amber

I like it best, because it is transparent, so it is easy to observe that it contains many packages. Their age is about 30-60 million years, from early Eocene to late Oligocene. Many of them reached into the blue soil below the groundwater level in the Baltic Sea, and were washed into the sea and washed to the shore after the storm. The largest mineral in the Baltic Sea is located in Kaliningrad, Russia, bordering Poland and Lithuania. Kaliningrad is a state separated from Russia. It used to be the territory of Prussia, and it was renamed Kaliningrad after being merged into Russia.

Baltic amber is extremely rich in color. It is generally lemon yellow, orange yellow, turbid (beeswax-like) and transparent when it is first harvested. Transparent amber can clearly see insects and other packages, while beeswax, because it is opaque, can't see anything inside except the bark and grass roots floating on the surface. Generally, amber will be oxidized to deep orange and red after being exposed to air or seawater for at least 50 years. Most Baltic amber contains succinic acid which is beneficial to human health, so Baltic amber is also called succinic acid.

When amber is heated, beautiful scales can be seen when it is transparent, while beeswax turns dark yellow or close to brown. Heating medium (oil, sand, salt, etc. ) and the temperature is different, the result will be different.

The most intuitive and simple way to identify transparent Baltic amber is: 1. Check for oak hair, which may come from the male flowers of the oak tree. 2. Baltic amber contains black pyrite crystal powder. 3. There will be a white package around the insect's body, which is produced by the reaction between the liquid flowing out and rosin when they are corroded after being stuck by rosin. These items will not appear in other kinds of amber, but they will not appear in every Baltic amber:-)

Dominican amber

Dominican amber comes from Hispaniola Island in Dominican Republic. Interest in them began at 1960, and the output was not high. Generally transparent, yellow or orange, blue and green are more precious. They come from a leguminous tree, but they are different from similar leguminous plants that exist today: Hymenaea protera. This is similar to copal fat in early Africa. Different from the subtropical forest wrapped in Baltic amber, Dominican amber embodies a tropical forest scene, which contains a lot of insects, flowers and plants, which has aroused great interest of scientists and collectors. Dominican amber is between 25 million and 30 million years old.

Mexican amber

Mexican amber is produced in Chiapas. Their colors are mostly yellow and light brown, but also green, crimson, red and blue, as shown in the figure below. Amber is often accompanied by cracks. Their age is about 20-30 million years. Its rich colors come from nature and it is a good choice for jewelry.

Amber, Borneo, Malaysia

Malaysia, also known as Sarawak Amber, is mainly produced in Borneo Island. The color is usually dark red, even black, and yellow blocks are rare. This amber usually contains a little wax. Some yellow blocks are not completely petrified, and they are still coba oil. Their age is about 20 million years. Borneo amber deposit is located in coal seam, which is relatively firm, not fragile and easy to polish.

At present, most amber traded in the international market is Baltic Sea and Dominican Republic. Jewelry and various mineral collections made from them are highly ornamental. Due to the decreasing of minerals, countries began to enact laws to restrict mining, which led to the shortage of raw materials, so the price continued to rise.