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Does the gas content of amber reveal the composition of palaeoatmospheres?

Abstract

WHAT does the gas content of amber indicate? It has been suggested that bubbles in amber preserve the composition of the atmosphere at the time the amber was exuded from trees1,2, while others suggest that the gas content is controlled by solubility relationships3, diffusion4 or chemical reactions involving oxygen consumption5. Here I describe a combined study of nitrogen, argon and oxygen in amber which makes it possible to distinguish bubble gas from matrix gas in amber by considering N2/Ar and O2/Ar ratios of the first gas released during the crushing of individual amber samples. Crushing experiments do not indicate high oxygen levels in Cretaceous amber as have been recently reported1. Neither Baltic nor Cretaceous amber has even the amount of oxygen expected for equilibration with the modern atmosphere. Successive crushings of individual amber pieces show that the first crush has the highest oxygen content and that both bubble and matrix oxygen is consumed as crushing continues. These results suggest that the oxygen content of amber does not have a bearing on the composition of the palaeoatmosphere.

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Cerling, T. Does the gas content of amber reveal the composition of palaeoatmospheres?. Nature 339, 695–696 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/339695a0

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