First discovery of Antarctic amber
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 PS104_20 (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).
Authors
- Johann Philipp Klages (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0968-1183)
- Torsten Bickert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5221-5922)
- Steven M. Bohaty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1193-7398)
- Juliane Müller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0724-4131)
- Claus‐Dieter Hillenbrand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0240-7317)
- Ulrich Salzmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5598-5327)
- Gernot Nehrke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2851-3049)
- Henny Gerschel
Institutions
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
- British Antarctic Survey (GB)
- University of Bremen (DE)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Northumbria University (GB)
- User Interface Design (Germany) (DE)
- TU Bergakademie Freiberg (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Antarctic Science
- Published
- 2024-10-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102024000208
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.10
Funders
- Sight Research UK
- Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
- Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
- Natural Environment Research Council
- MARUM – Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften
- British Antarctic Survey