The benefit of investigating fossil resins of the world using the IRS method

Infrared absorption spectroscopy was introduced at the Museum of the Earth of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw in 1985for research on fossil and subfossil resins of the world. As new reports on previously unknown findings have been made, a collection of resins from across the world has been developed according to the identifications based on the preliminary IRS method, documented by a catalogue of about 1200IR spectra, of which 344 are presented in the published ATLAS. The results of research, conducted with the participation of various teams, are presented. These include very useful activities that organize the terminology to protect against counterfeiting, and indications of the areas of differentiation of highly resin-producing forest communities, both in time and with regard to their migration over considerable distances. In search for the source tree of succinite, Pseu- dolarix vehri has been indicated based on both the IR spectra from Axel Heiberg (Canada) and the Paleogene paleogeography. In the studies of Indonesian glessites, the hypothesis of the contribution of volcanic processes to increased production of resin by trees has been proved. In amber (= succinite) with a solidfoam structure, SEM investigations revealed the presence of succinellite microcrystals (= succinic acid), hitherto known only as one of the components of dry distillation of the Baltic amber