Issue |
BSGF - Earth Sci. Bull.
Volume 191, 2020
Special Issue L’Ambre
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 17 | |
Number of page(s) | 11 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/bsgf/2020018 | |
Published online | 26 June 2020 |
Review Article
A review of amber and copal occurrences in Africa and their paleontological significance
Une révision des gisements d’ambre et de copal en Afrique et leur signification paléontologique
Univ. Rennes, CNRS, Géosciences Rennes, UMR 6118,
F35000
Rennes, France
* Corresponding author: vincent.perrichot@univ-rennes1.fr
Received:
9
April
2020
Accepted:
19
May
2020
The paleontological interest for fossil plant resins (amber and copal) has greatly increased in the last decades, as field studies have resulted in the discovery of various new deposits worldwide. Yet, amber-rich deposits remain particularly scarce on continents from former Gondwana. Here we review the known occurrences of copal and amber from Africa, with a state-of-the-art regarding the age dating, the putative plant sources, the fossil content, as well as the paleoenvironmental settings. The first African ambers known to yield arthropods and other organismal inclusions, found recently from the early Cretaceous of Congo and the Miocene of Ethiopia, are briefly overviewed.
Résumé
L’intérêt paléontologique pour les résines végétales fossiles (ambre et copal) s’est fortement accru ces dernières décennies, les études de terrain ayant permis la découverte de divers nouveaux gisements à travers le monde. Les gisements riches en ambre demeurent néanmoins particulièrement rares sur les continents autrefois gondwaniens. Nous révisons ici les occurrences connues de copal et d’ambre en Afrique, avec un bilan concernant la datation, les sources botaniques probables, le contenu fossile, ainsi que le contexte paléoenvironnemental. Les premiers ambres africains livrant des arthropodes et autres inclusions organiques fossiles, découverts récemment dans le Crétacé inférieur du Congo et le Miocène d’Ethiopie, sont brièvement présentés.
Key words: fossil resins / amber / Africa / Cretaceous / Cenozoic
Mots clés : résines fossiles / ambre / Afrique / Crétacé / Cénozoïque
© V. Bouju and V. Perrichot, Published by EDP Sciences 2020
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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