Video Transcript
What is amber?
This question is asking us about
amber, which is a type of fossil. So what is a fossil anyway?
A fossil is the preserved remains,
such as bones or shells, impression, or trace of an organism that lived many years
ago. Since we’re looking at amber, let’s
discuss how this can form.
Millions of years ago, a tree
produced some sap. This sap was very sticky, but over
time it dried out and fell to the ground. In order for any fossil to form,
including this tree sap here, it needs to be buried under many layers of
material. This can be sand from when a giant
sand dune falls on top of the tree sap or volcanic ash when a nearby volcano
erupts. Or it can be mud that forms another
layer.
Remember, this is all happening
over millions of years, so many layers can form. And over all this time, these
layers pile on top of each other and get compacted because of all the weight of the
layers on top. Over time, these layers become
rock, which we call sedimentary rock. Anything inside this rock is
preserved and fossilized, even our chunk of tree sap here. Because of this process, this tree
sap is now considered a fossil. And fossilized tree sap is what we
call amber.
So, getting back to our question,
amber is fossilized tree sap.
