Raman spectroscopy and SERS for determining the relative age of fossil resins

Abstract This paper presents Raman data from studies on 27 fossil resin samples sourced from different geographical locations and representing various relative ages. Ages ranging from the Late Triassic (T 3 ) to the modern period (Q 4 ) were investigated. The primary method for estimating the age of the resins involved determining the ratio ν(C = C)/ σ (CH 2 ), which was 1650–1600 cm −1 and 1450 cm −1 respectively, making it possible to differentiate between fossil resins from T 3 and K 1 and those from Q and Q 4 . Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, combined with machine learning algorithms, was used to further clarify the differences between the consecutive K 1 and K 2 ages.