Plaffeiit
An amber variety from the flysch of the Swiss Alps that has been known since the 19th century is called plaffeiit after one of the around a dozen known sites ( plaffeien ) .
The amber discovery sites are located in a flysch band up to five kilometers wide, which stretches on the northern edge of the Pre-Alps between the Savoy and Lake Lucerne . The fossil resin was formed around 55 million years ago in the Upper Paleocene . The amber occurs in the form of grains and small lenses in the rock. In contrast to Baltic amber, which is almost the same age, plaffeiite does not contain any succinic acid . Various organic inclusions were found in the plaffeiite. Because of its fragility, plaffeiite is not suitable as a raw material for the manufacture of jewelry.
Web links
- Report on the Plaffeiit in the Freiburger Nachrichten
https://www.freiburger-nachrichten.ch/archiv-sense/plaffeiit-ein-fossiles-harz-aus-der-flyschzone
literature
- H. Krähenbühl: Amber deposits in Switzerland. In: Communications from the Association of Friends of Mining in Graubünden , 4/1988, 12th year, Davos 1988, pp. 23–26.
- M. Soom: Amber from the northern edge of the Swiss Alps. In: Amber News. Stuttgart Contributions to Natural History - Series C - No. 18, Stuttgart 1984, pp. 15-20.
- A. Tschirch and Kato: Plaffeiit, the fossil resin of the flysch from Plaffeien. In: Communications from the Natural Research Society in Bern . Bern 1925, pp. 13-19.
- Stefan Weiß: Amber from Switzerland. - in Lapis 5/2005, Munich 2005, pp. 16-19.