Database of luminescent minerals 

AMBER   (French name: AMBRE )

Chemical formula: C₁₂H₂₀O

Family: Organic

Status: IMA-GP

Crystal system : Amorphous

Display mineral: OUI

Associated names (luminescent varieties, discredited names, synonyms, etc.): allingite,  duxite,  cedarite,  walchovite,  simetite,  delatynite,  burmite,  gedanite,  roumanite,  succinite,  gedano-succinite,  valchovite, 

Luminescence:

Daylight picture

AMBRE, Gdansk, Pologne; Col. G.Barmarin; Photo: G. Barmarin

Longwave (365nm) picture

AMBRE, Gdansk, Pologne; UVLW Col. G.Barmarin; Photo: G. Barmarin

Shortwave (254nm) picture

AMBRE, Gdansk, Pologne; UVSW Col. G.Barmarin; Photo: G. Barmarin

Pictures Galery:

  
  Go to the galery (9 pictures)

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Phosphorescence (in the common sense of the term) observable with the naked eye:

Comments:

Blue amber : strong blue fluorescence LW due to the presence of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon known as Perylene. It is formed from the resin of the Hymenea Protera tree unlike other ambers which originate from conifers.

Activator(s) and spectrum:

Activator(s): Matière organique intrinsèque,

Peaks in the spectrum (nm):

Broad band centered at 500 nm (+/-100nm half-width) / "waves" at 480, 513, 548 and 592nm

Col. G. Barmarin; Spectre: G. Barmarin

Spectrum Galery:

  
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Best localities for fluorescence (*):

• Gdansk, Pomorskie, Poland;
• KlaipÄ—da County, Lithuania;
• Beach of the Baltic Sea, especially between Liepāja city and Lithuania border, Kurzeme Region, Latvia;
• Sabana de la Mar, Hato Mayor Province, Dominican Republic;
• La Cumbre mine, Cordillera Septentrional, Santiago Province, Dominican Republic (Blue amber);
• Bukit Barisan (Barisan Mountain Range) coal deposit, Sumatra Island, Indonesia (black amber);
• Merit Pila Coal Mine, Sarawak, Borneo Island, Malaysia;
• Anna Amber mine, Primorskoe amber deposit, Yantarny, Kaliningradskaya Oblast, North-Western Region, Russia;
• Severn River, Md, USA (fluo Green LW);

(*)The data are not exhaustive and are limited to a few remarkable localities for fluorescence

Bibliographic reference for luminescence:

• The Henkel Glossary of Fluorescent Minerals, Dr. Gerhard Henkel, Published by the FMS, 1989 ,
• Fluorescence: Gems and Minerals Under Ultraviolet Light, Manuel Robbins, 1994, Geoscience Press, ISBN 0-945005-13-X ,
• Handbook of Fluorescent Gems and Minerals, a practical guide for the gem and mineral collector, Jack de Ment, 1949 ,

Reference for luminescence on the Internet:

Mineralogical reference on the Internet:

  http://www.mindat.org/show.php?name=Amber

  http://webmineral.com/data/Amber.shtml

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