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Type: Short Communication
Published: 2019-08-30
Page range: 333–339
Abstract views: 210
PDF downloaded: 3

Four new Lower Barremian amber outcrops from Northern Lebanon

State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, China Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences II, Department of Natural Sciences, Fanar, P.O. Box 26110217, Fanar–Matn, Lebanon
Mechmech, Akkar, Lebanon
Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences II, Department of Natural Sciences, Fanar, P.O. Box 26110217, Fanar–Matn, Lebanon
General Lower Barremian amber Lower Cretaceous FT-IR analysis Akkar Mechmech Hrar

Abstract

Amber is a fossilized plant resin that is preserved and modified throughout geological time (Langenheim, 1969). The complexity of the chemical composition of amber makes it unique considering the preservation of biological inclusions in their 3D pristine and minute details (Langenheim, 2003). Its age ranges between a few millions and 320 million years (mid-Carboniferous) (Sargent Bray & Anderson, 2009). During the past two to three decades, the discoveries worldwide of new amber outcrops have increased. There is no doubt that Jurassic Park in 1993, the famous American science fiction adventure thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, played a noticeable role in making amber more popular. Before this date, interest in amber was mainly restricted to Baltic and Caribbean countries, though amber occurrence was known from several localities worldwide.

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