Jonathan Sargent, “GIS Dataset Curation and Mapping of Prospective Carboniferous Fossil-Bearing Amber Deposits”
Mentor: Victoria McCoy, Geosciences
Poster #165

The oldest amber is late Carboniferous in age (~320 Ma), but fossil inclusions are not present in the earliest preserved amber. Various positive correlates regarding fossiliferous amber preservation, however are widely studied. A review of background literature on amber production and insect fossilization in amber identified a list of key biotic and abiotic factors that influence occurrences of fossiliferous amber. Identification of general regions occurred based on the geographic distribution for each above-noted corresponding biotic and abiotic amber production factor. Overlying of the geographic distributions for each factor occurred via ArcGIS Pro 3.1 to determine best-fit localities for prospective fossiliferous amber deposits. Presence of resin-producing plants, large-scale wildfires, maximum regressive surfaces, climatic fluctuations, moderate to low annual rainfall, monsoonal climate, and volcanism were all identified as reliable indicators of amber development. The background literature review discovered numerous best-fit geologic outcrops for prospective fossiliferous amber occurrences, specifically the Pennine Basin of South Staffordshire England, Cerrosde Amado area of Socorro, New Mexico, Saar-Nahe Basin of southwest Germany, the Illinois Basin, and the Mullaghmore Sandstone formation of Bunatrahir West, near Céide Fields, Ireland. A lack of archived GIS datasets possessing locality-specified Pennsylvanian sedimentological, stratigraphic and paleontological information limited the precision of the produced GIS dataset deliverable. An examination of the background literature for both reliable factors for amber production and subsequent amber-producing localities indicated a suite of strong positive correlates and multiple corresponding sites. The development of GIS datasets, which overlay multiple positive correlates, has the potential to significantly increase the accuracy and precision of prospecting efforts for potential Carboniferous fossiliferous amber deposits.