CRETACEOUS AMBER 
Amber from Cretaceous beds have been reported in 
considerable amounts from the Kuk River drainage of 
the Alaskan Arctic Coastal Plain, from the beach of 
Cedar Lake, Manitoba, Canada, and from numerous 
occurrences along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Massa- 
chusetts to South Carolina. Also a small amount has 
been recorded from Baja, California, Mexico. Spectra 
have been made from specimens from the above locali- 
ties. Although amber has also been noted to occur in 
Cretaceous rocks from Hardin County, Tennessee (Ross, 
1956), Ellsworth County, Kansas (Schoewe, 1942), the 
Black Hills of South Dakota, Eagle Pass, Texas, Mt. 
Diablo, California, as well as other localities, samples of 
these have not been available as yet for analysis. 
The Alaskan amber will be discussed first because its 
stratigraphic relations and associated plant fossils have 
been investigated more intensively than for other Cre- 
taceous ambers. ‘These studies provide background for 
interpretation of the botanic source in terms of the in- 
frared spectra. 
Alaskan Amber 
Amber is widespread in Upper Cretaceous coal and 
carbonaceous shales along the Kuk River drainage (Kuk, 
Ketik and Kaolak Rivers) of the Alaskan Arctic Coastal 
Plain (Langenheim, Smiley, and Gray, 1960; Smiley, 
1966). Reworked amber occurs also ubiquitously in 
Pleistocene beds and along recent stream deposits in 
this region. Several lines of evidence indicate that these 
Cretaceous amber-bearing beds are of non-marine origin, 
and age determinations rest entirely on the abundant 
plant megafossils and microfossils. The older Kuk flora, 
characterized by ferns of varied kinds and a mixture of 
primitive and modern conifers, is considered Cenomanian 
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