Amber is fossilized plant resin. As the name implies, Baltic Amber is abundant along the shores of the Baltic Sea, particularly around the Samland Promontory of Russia.
In the early Tertiary age, forests of the estinct tree pinus succinifera flourished on a land mass south of the Samland region. During the middle Tertiary age the area was flooded and the resin from the trees was washed out and redeposited in marine sediments in the Samland area. These sediments have been reworked and the Amber was subsequently redeposited in areas along the shores of the Baltic Sea.
As Amber has a low density, it can be carried by water in suspension and is generally deposited in low energy environments such as lakes, submarine basins, and estuaries.
Around 98 percent of the Baltic Amber biota were flying insects (as the image above - a butterfly species). Diptera, two-winged flying insects, dominated the fauna of the Baltic Amber, accounting for approximately half of the organisms. Extremely rare mammal hairs, an almost complete lizard, snails, and bird feathers account for the remaining 2 percent.
The Baltic Amber fossils are important as they show the morphology and Paleontology in extremely fine detail and also provide information, development and climate conditions of ancient organisms in which they once lived.
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