Natural amber is widely sough for in the whole world. How is it formed and what affects its color?

Secondary types of amber

The primary types of amber influenced by the air, light or humidity and temperature swings bring about the change of color and inner structure of the amber and result in creating the secondary types. These changes include amber color turning from yellow to red or orange. The changes to the inner structure involve creating various cracks or nodules inside which cause sugar-like structure. Apart from that, the amber gets covered with oxidized layer that makes its surface rough and coarse. The amber nodules which were exposed to oxygen above the level of the water have the biggest degree of oxidization. Ambers presented in various expositions and collections which are constantly exposed to contact with oxygen change color from yellow to red and orange or from white to yellow. The types of secondary ambers include: red amber, firey amber and sugar-like amber.
Ambers are also divided into various categories according to the origin. For example, amber imported from Sambia is mostly translucent and yellow, Baltic amber has plenty of types and colors. These differences are caused by the conditions amber had been exposed to. For 40 million years Sambian amber was located in blue earth which has got perfect preserving properties, that is why it kept its original form. Whereas Polsih amber was continuously changing its location, the differences were caused by long-lasting transportation and different conditions it was placed. Thank to those varieties the Baltic amber is so sought for among artists and cleints from the whole world.