A Study On The Gemological Characteristics Of Amber In Different Producing Areas

There are a lot of amber regions in nature, the forming geological age and geological environent are diverse in ambers from different origins, their gemmological characteristics also exist differences at the same time. This paper studies all aspects of gemological characteristics of Chinese Fushun amber, Myanmar amber and the Baltic sea amber in order to identify their gemological characteristics and distinguish their origin information, and then provide the basis for determining their origins.This paper mainly adopts the methods for observing features of internal and external in ambers, refractive index, extinction phenomenon, hardness and UV fluorescent by basic gemological instruments, studying on the contents of the main elements and chemical compositions in ambers by XPS, studying on the contents of trace elements in ambers by ICP-AES, studying on the existence of succinic acid and its content in the ambers by HPLC, testing the structures of ambers by X-ray diffraction and Infrared spectroscopy. The conclusions of the research are obtained as follows:(1) The refractive index is1.54of ambers from the three different regions, resin luster, conchoidal fracture; Chinese Fushun amber possesses these properties as red-brown color, strongly fluorescence, smooth surface and covering coal; Myanmar amber has the properties as yellow-brown color and strongly fluorescence; Baltic sea amber owns the properties as yellow color, no fluorescence, bubbles and insect inclusions can be observed in the internal.(2) Three different origins of ambers contain high levels of C, O elements, but elements of N and S in ambers from different regions are less than2%; From Chinese Fushun amber, Myanmar amber to Baltic sea amber, the content of C element reduces while the content of O and the value of O/C increase in turn; Chinese Fushun amber does not contain S element.(3) Three different origins of ambers all contain trace elements of Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Cu; The relative contents of Al, Fe, Cu are higher in Myanmar amber, and they form metal compound crystal diffraction peaks of Fe4Cu3, Al2Fe, CuAl2; The content of Al element is higher than that of the other elements in Chinese Fushun amber and Baltic sea amber.(4) The relative content of n-alkanes is higher in Chinese Fushun amber and Myanmar amber, while the relative of fatty acid and fatty alcohol is higher in Baltic sea amber.(5) Baltic sea amber contains about4.49%of succinic acid, but succinic acid is inexistent in Chinese Fushun amber and Myanmar amber.(6) Infrared spectra test shows that1378,1462,1700,2868,2933cm-1absorption peaks all appear in amber samples from the three origins; The Baltic sea amber has stronger peak at1700cm-1than Fushun and Myanmar ambers; Chinese Fushun amber has strong absorption peaks between2000～2500cm-1,the absorption peaks are weak in Myanmar amber and the Baltic sea amber in this range; Between3000～4000cm-1, the Baltic sea amber appeares a very wide and strong absorption peak, but the intensity of the absorption peak is weak in Chinese Fushun amber and Myanmar amber within the scope.