How is it possible Amber

I collect some old items and my piece of amber has got me thinking How is it possible that such large drops of amber caught living insects /animals in such a quick way it froze them in the state they were in the mantis is not mine "wish it was" mine is the large flea



Mine is Colombian dated to Pleistocene age , You look at trees and the amber is tiny balls and very slow running ,

For insects like the small mantis to be caught standing it would have had to be a large drop and very viscous all most water meaning heat a lot of heat or the trees had to be massive could these be from the impact or some other event that caused the environment to heat up?

I have seen some say that we have giant petrified tree stumps around the World even Devils tower as a possible stump .

Maybe it wasn't a.large drop. Maybe the poor thing got stuck on the sticky surface and couldn't free itself and the amber covered it drop by drop over time or perhaps it landed on a large droplet and sank in like quicksand.

originally posted by: TheVelvetElvis
Maybe it wasn't a.large drop. Maybe the poor thing got stuck on the sticky surface and couldn't free itself and the amber covered it drop by drop over time or perhaps it landed on a large droplet and sank in like quicksand.

Had to be quick to be frozen in time you would think .

Insects crawl on trees and get stuck in the amber, which eventually becomes fossilized.

[buybalticamber.com...]

a reply to: Ravenwatcher


The stuff is very sticky and can accumulate alot, I've picked fist sized clumps of resin. Any insect caught on its sticky surface will be slowly covered.

Was it really standing when it got covered or could they just move the piece for better optics?

originally posted by: nugget1
Insects crawl on trees and get stuck in the amber, which eventually becomes fossilized.

[buybalticamber.com...]

I get that but when in modern time have you seen enough sap to incase a large insect or it even flow fast enough to become sticky enough to grab one all I see nowadays is tiny balls that run so slow they aren't really sticky .

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: Ravenwatcher


The stuff is very sticky and can accumulate alot, I've picked fist sized clumps of resin. Any insect caught on its sticky surface will be slowly covered.

Was it really standing when it got covered or could they just move the piece for better optics?

It runs so slow you would think the insect would be deteriorated by the time it's covered to preserve it in it's perfect state .

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

I have seen some say that we have giant petrified tree stumps around the World even Devils tower as a possible stump .

I hypothesize that gravity was lower back then. Trees were bigger. Drops of resinous sap were bigger.

When Zeus defeated Kronos and the titans were sent to Tartarus gravity was increased. Pseudo scientifically speaking Kronos is dark matter, not detectable except as a gravity source.

Once Kronos rises again and gravity is reduced back to normal the World will return to the age of Mega Reptiles. Tyrannosaur will be Rex again. Or some larger Megalodon or such will eat him in one gulp.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

There is always the possibility of it being fake...

a reply to: nugget1

Yes, I think the clue is in its antennae. See how they point straight up? My guess is, the mantis walked or flew onto a deep pool of amber and sunk to the bottom, hence the orientation of the antennae. It remained in its natural 'attack' posture, all to no avail except for us to still admire its beauty today.

a reply to: Encia22

My piece has air bubbles in it which would indicate it was flowing fast and at a large amount still think heat or size had something to do with it .

a reply to: TheVelvetElvis

You’d think such a bug would be scavenged in the time intervening being stuck and being encased in amber.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

There is an epoch of earth where things got really big, are you suggesting global warming isn't new?

How dare you...

a reply to: FullHeathen

We will genetically splice our genome with T-Rex and it will be known as the age of godzilla...

a reply to: Encia22

Made me think. The viscosity of resin makes me doubt anything with that little mass would sink to the bottom.

But looking at the antenas made me think of another more probable scenario

You know insects can walk upsy downsy on things?
A resinous branch
A mantis going about here day along the bottom of that branch, getting stuck and being covered by the resin.
now the antena would be hanging downwards...

Turn the piece around et voilà ?

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: Encia22

Made me think. The viscosity of resin makes me doubt anything with that little mass would sink to the bottom.

But looking at the antenas made me think of another more probable scenario

You know insects can walk upsy downsy on things?
A resinous branch
A mantis going about here day along the bottom of that branch, getting stuck and being covered by the resin.
now the antena would be hanging downwards...

Turn the piece around et voilà ?

Upside down would make sense but the rate and amount it got covered in would also indicate a very large tree or an event that caused the trees to bleed resin in large amounts and very quickly Resin from todays trees would not be liquid enough to incase live insects - Heat had to be involved in some way .

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

If I had to hazard a guess...

1. Micro-nova heats the atmosphere/area making sap less viscous.
2. Drops on insects in the process of dying
3. The solar wind temporarily blows away part of the atmosphere
4. Cold of space instantly freezes the amber with the insect inside
4. It stays that way for millions of years.

Cheers - Dave

I would think it would be a natural adaptation of the trees.

Today, we don't have large herbivores chomping off huge branches on a dialy basis. With the trees being considered as grass, they would have to have amazing healing properties to survive. That would include more and quicker moving resin to heal an injury.

I think you nailed it. The antenna suggest it moved in a downward vector into the amber.

Sounds like the most plausible way to explain the body position. It fell or landed directly onto the glob of sap and sunk.

a reply to: Encia22

originally posted by: Athetos
I think you nailed it. The antenna suggest it moved in a downward vector into the amber.

Sounds like the most plausible way to explain the body position. It fell or landed directly onto the glob of sap and sunk.

a reply to: Encia22

But the amber would have had to be liquid enough for it to sink fast enough to make the antenna straight and I'm sure that mantis does not weight enough to sink that fast .