First amber discovered in Antarctica brings new insights into Cretaceous forests

Until recently, there was a gap in the world map where amber was discovered: Antarctica. But thanks to a team led by Dr. Johann P. Klages of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, and Dr. Henny Gerschel of the Bergakademie Freiberg University of Technology, that gap has finally been closed.

In a recently published paper, experts describe the amber they discovered in a sediment core recovered during a 2017 expedition by the research icebreaker Polar Stern using the submarine drilling rig MARUM-MeBo70 at a depth of 946 meters. Explaining. They named the discovery Pine Island Amber, after its location in Pine Island Bay in the Amundsen Sea, precisely at 73.57 degrees south latitude and 107.09 degrees west longitude.

The discovery will be published in the journal Antarctic Science.

“The analyzed amber fragments provide direct insight into the environmental conditions that prevailed in West Antarctica 90 million years ago,” said lead author Klages. “This interesting discovery provides a more detailed picture of how the forests we reconstructed during the 2020 nature survey were functioning,” added the AWI marine geologist.

“It was very exciting to learn that at one point in its history, all seven continents had climatic conditions in which resin-producing trees could survive. Our goal now is to , to learn more about forest ecosystems. If a forest burns out, what can we find? Traces of life in amber allow us to travel into the past in a more direct way.”

Anyone expecting a large chunk of amber will be disappointed. For analysis using reflected light or fluorescence microscopy, the raw material had to be air-dried and carefully sliced ​​into coarse pieces 1 mm in diameter, from which the amber pieces were harvested. However, an interesting structure was nevertheless discovered.

“Antarctic amber likely contains remnants of the original bark as microinclusions. Considering its solid, transparent, and translucent particles, the amber is of high quality. disappears due to thermal stress and an increase in burial depth, indicating that it is buried close to the surface,” says TU Bergakademie Freiberg, who until recently was an employee of the Saxony State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology. Henny Gerschel, a consultant at

The research team also found signs of pathological resin flow. This is a strategy that trees use to seal off damaged bark caused by parasites and wildfires, creating a chemical and physical barrier that protects them from insect attack and infectious disease.

“Our findings are another piece of the puzzle and will help us better understand the wet, coniferous temperate rainforest environment found near Antarctica during the mid-Cretaceous,” Gerschel said. he says.