Abstract
It is the purpose of this work to analyze the fluids included in the Fossil Forest fossil resin. The fossil resin samples used in this study were collected from the Fruitland Formation (Campanian-Maastrichtian; 76-72 Ma), a sequence of interbedded coals, drab-colored mudstones and claystones, poorly fissile carbonaceous shales, siltstones and sandstone in the Fossil Forest study area located in the west-central San Juan Basin of New Mexico. The resin is found in association with and included in fossilized taxodiaceous wood. The fluids trapped in Late Cretaceous fossil resin have a higher oxygen content that is found in younger samples. The analytical data are presented in a framework devised to differentiate between trapped paleoatmospheres and gases dissolved in the amber matrix. The data suggest that the Late Cretaceous atmosphere had an O 2 content of at least 24%. The gases trapped in fossil resin most likely are not pristine paleoatmosphere. However, fossil resin can record the composition of the atmosphere over the past 120 m.y., the length of the resin record.
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