How Plant Resin Becomes Amber

1. Resin production: Some plants produce resin, often in response to injury or other biological processes. The source plant varies by resin type and cannot always be identified from appearance alone.

2. Exudation and hardening: Resin may flow or ooze from the plant and harden at or near its source. The term ‘copal’ is commonly used for younger or less mature fossil resin, though usage varies.

3. Transport and deposition: Resin can remain near the source or be moved and redeposited by water and sediment. The pathway must be established for each deposit; it should not be assumed to be the same for all Myanmar amber.

4. Burial and preservation: Sediment can bury resin. Whether it survives depends on local conditions, including oxygen availability, sediment chemistry, temperature, pressure, and later fluid movement.

5. Chemical maturation: Over geological time, chemical changes such as polymerization and loss of volatile compounds can transform preserved resin. The process varies with the resin’s chemistry and burial history.

6. Amber: Amber is mature fossilized plant resin and remains an organic material, not a mineral. There is no single visible feature or fixed time threshold that identifies every resin’s transition to amber.