2024/10/01 by Johann Philipp Klages, Henny Gerschel, Ulrich Salzmann +5 · 2 voices · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Plant and animal studies #Fossil Insects in Amber
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0954102024000208
Here, we report the first discovery of Antarctic fossil resin (commonly referred to as amber) within a ~5 cm-thick lignite layer, which constitutes the top part of a ~3 m-long palynomorph-rich and root-bearing carbonaceous mudstone of mid-Cretaceous age (Klages et al. 2020). The sedimentary sequence (Fig. 1) was recovered by the MARUM-MeBo70 seafloor drill rig at Site PS10420 (73.57° S, 107.09° W; 946 m water depth) from the mid-shelf section of Pine Island trough in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, during RV Polarstern Expedition PS104 in early 2017 (Gohl 2017; Fig. 1a). So far, amber deposits have been described from every continent except Antarctica (Langenheim 2003, Quinney et al . 2015; Fig. 1a).