Organic & Fossils
Organic Resin
What it is
Amber is fossilized tree resin, typically 30–100 million years old. Unlike minerals, amber is organic — it's the hardened sap of ancient conifer and angiosperm trees. Amber famously preserves insects and plant material as pristine inclusions.
How it forms
Tree resin flows from wounds in bark, trapping insects and debris. Over millions of years, burial and heat polymerize the resin into copal and eventually amber through a process called amberization.
C₁₀H₁₆O + succinic acid (organic polymer)
