DEFINITION OF TEKTITE

Very unusual rounded and pitted aerodynamically

shaped clumps of black, greenish brown, or yellow glass,

usually found in groups or clusters known as tektite fields.

The glasses are typically less than a few centimeters long, and

high in silica content (65–85 percent), but are of nonvolcanic

origin and show no relationship to the underlying geology.

Tektites were named by Eduard Suess in 1900, and their origin

has been debated ever since. It is now thought that they

are melts derived from hypervelocity meteorite impacts, and

that the tektites formed small melt balls that shot through the

hole blasted in the atmosphere by the impactor, reaching

spectacular heights before cooling and falling to Earth in tektite

fields. Some tektite fields can be shown to be related to

specific nearby or distant impact craters such as the 15-million-

year-old Reis crater in Germany, whereas specific craters

have not been found to be associated with other tektite fields.

Alternative models for the origin of tektites have suggested

that they may be melts derived from impacts on the moon or

other nearby planets.

See also IMPACT CRATER; METEORITE.

temperate climate See CLIMATE.

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