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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Nd and Sr isotopic compositions of tektite material from Barbados and their relationship to North American tektites

The isotopic composition of microtektites from Barbados was determined to establish their possible source and their relationship to known tektite strewn fields. Analyzed samples included microtektites and tektite fragments from the Barbados oceanic beds, samples of deep sea ooze, in which they occur, and of underlying volcanic ash, as well as glass beads from Lake Wanapitei Crater. Isotope ratios (Sr-87/Sr-86, Nd-143/Nd-144, Rb-87/Sr-86, and Sm-147/Nd-144) were determined, and the epsilon values for Sr and Nd plotted on the diagram available for the fields of North America, Australia, Ivory Coast, and Moldavite tektites. The epsilon coordinates of all Barbados microtektite and bulk tektite samples plot precisely within the narrow field determined by North American tektites (epsilon Sr, 111; epsilon Nd, -6.2), yield an Nd model age of 0.6 AE, and are distinct from all other fields. The isotopic signatures of samples from sea ooze, ash layer, and of the Lake Wanapitei glass beads are clearly different from all known tektite classes. It is concluded that the Barbados tektites are of the same source and temporal event as the North American tektites.

Ngo, H. H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Oxygen isotopes as tracers of tektite source rocks: An example from the Ivory Coast tektites and Lake Bosumtwi Crater

Oxygen isotope studies of tektites and impact glasses provide an important tool to help in identifying the target lithologies for terrestrial impacts, including the K-T boundary impact. However, such studies may be complicated by modification of the original oxygen isotope values of some source rocks during the tektite formation process either by vapor fractionation or incorporation of meteoric water. To further investigate the relationship between the oxygen isotopic composition of tektites and their source rocks, Ivory Coast tektites and samples of impact glasses and bedrock lithologies from the Bosumtwi Crater in Ghana--which is widely believed to be the source crater for the Ivory Coast tektites--were studied. Our preliminary results suggest that the phyllites and metagraywackes from the Bosumtwi Crater were the predominant source materials for the impact glasses and tektites and that no significant oxygen isotope modification (less than 1 percent delta(O-18)) took place during impact melting. This contrasts with previous studies of moldavites and Australasian tektites and their sedimentary source materials which suggests a 4 to 5 percent lowering of delta(O-18) due to meteoric water incorporation during impact melting.

Blum, Joel D.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Study of the ablative effects on tektites: Atmosphere entry of a swarm of tektites

The large variety of ablation markings observed on recovered tektites lead to the previously proposed swarm wake model which states that the lead peripheral tektites bore the blunt of aerodynamic heating upon entry, and that the bulk of tektites in the wake enjoyed partial shielding at the expense of the leaders. Further considerations are presented in support of this model. Quantitative assessments indicate that wake shielding might indeed have provided for substantially less heating than would have been experienced by a tektite entering an undisturbed atmosphere along a similar trajectory. For the case of strong wake shielding it is even possible that the surface temperature of a falling tektite had barely reached its melting point. In the distribution of tektites, there is a size band (near R = 0.5 cm) which is least susceptible to melting.

Sepri, P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Mechanism of Muong Nong-type tektite formation and speculation on the source of Australasian tektites

The source crater of the youngest and largest of the tektite strewnfields, the Australasian strewnfield, has not been located. A number of lines of evidence indicate that the Muong Nong-type tektites, primarily found in Indochina, are more primitive than the much more abundant and widespread splash-form tektites, and are proximal to the source. In this study the spatial distribution of Muong Nong-type tektite sites and chemical character have been used to indicate the approximate location of the source. The variation of Muong Nong-type tektite chemical composition appears to be caused by mixing of two silicate rock end-members and a small amount of limestone, and not by vapor fractionation. The variation in composition is not random, and does not support in situ melting or multiple impact theories. The distribution of both Muong Nong and splash-form tektite sites suggest the source is in a limited area near the southern part of the Thailand-Laos border.

Schnetzler, C. C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Tektite-like bodies at Lonar Crater, India - Implications for the origin of tektites

Homogeneous dense glass bodies (both irregular and splash form) with high silica contents (about 67 pct SiO2) occur in the vicinity of Lonar Crater, India. Their lack of microlites and mineral remnants and their uniform chemical composition virtually preclude a volcanic origin. They are similar to tektites reported in the literature. While such a close association of tektite-like bodies with impact craters is already known (Aouelloul Crater, Mauritania; Zhamanshin Crater, U.S.S.R.), the tektite-like bodies at Lonar Crater are unique in that they occur in an essentially basaltic terrain. Present geochemical data are consistent with these high silica glass bodies being impact melt products of two-thirds basalt and one-third local intertrappean sediment (chert). The tektite-like bodies of the impact craters Lonar, Zhamanshin, and Aouelloul are generally similar. Strong terrestrial geochemical signatures reflect the target rock REE patterns and abundance ratios and demonstrate their terrestrial origin resulting from meteorite impact, as has been suggested by earlier workers.

Murali, A. V.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Tektite origin by hypervelocity asteroidal or cometary impact: The quest for the source craters

Tektites are natural glasses that are chemically homogeneous, often spherically symmetrical objects several centimeters in size, and occur in four known strewn fields on the surface of the Earth: the North American, moldavite (or Central European), Ivory Coast, and Australasian strewn fields. Tektites found within such strewn fields are related to each other with respect to their petrological, physical, and chemical properties as well as their age. A theory of tektite origin needs to explain the similarity of tektites in respect to age and certain aspects of isotopic and chemical composition within one strewn field, as well as the variety of tektite materials present in each strewn field. In addition to tektites on land, microtektites (which are generally less than 1 mm in diameter) have been found in deep-sea cores. Tektites are classified into three groups: (1) normal or splash-form tektites, (2) aerodynamically shaped tektites, and (3) Muong Nong-type tektites (sometimes also called layered tektites). The aerodynamic ablation results from partial remelting of glass during atmospheric passage after it was ejected outside the terrestrial atmosphere and quenched from a hot liquid. Aerodynamically shaped tektites are known mainly from the Australasian strewn field where they occur as flanged-button australites. The shapes of splash-form tektites (spheres, droplets, teardrops, dumbbells, etc., or fragments thereof) are the result of the solidification of rotating liquids in the air or vacuum. Mainly due to chemical studies, it is now commonly accepted that tektites are the product of melting and quenching of terrestrial rocks during hypervelocity impact on the Earth. The chemistry of tektites is in many respects identical to the composition of upper crustal material.

Koeberl, Christian↗
NASA NTRS1989

Nd and Sr isotopic evidence for the origin of tektite material from DSDP site 612 off the New Jersey coast

The Sr and Nd isotopic composition was analyzed for samples from the Late Eocene tektite material from DSDP site 612 off the New Jersey coast, to determine whether these tektites may be assigned to the North-American-tektite group. It was found that the ranges of the Sr-87/Sr-86 and the Nd-143/Nd-144 ratios were much wider than in the 612-tectite material than in the tightly constrained group of North American tektites and microtektites and were significantly different from ratios in other groups of tektites. Results indicate that the DSDP tektites were formed from a chemically and isotopically heterogeneous material, in a regime that was different from that of other groups of tektites. It is suggested that the 612-tectites and the North American tektites were either formed by impacts of several bolides in the same general area or by a single impact event that sampled different layers.

Stecher, O.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Tektites and their origin

Questions concerning the tektite distribution are examined, taking into account the Australasian strewn field, the Ivory Coast strewn field, the Moldavite strewn field, the North American strewn field, the Libyan desert glass, the Aouelloul crater glass, and amerikanites. Attention is given to the shapes of tektites, the internal structure of tektites, the physical properties of tektite glass, the chemical composition of tektites, isotopes, fission tracks, cosmic ray tracks, and arguments in favor and against the terrestrial origin of tektites. It is concluded that tektites cannot be terrestrial in origin. They are probably volcanic ejects, of geologically recent epochs, from one or a number of lunar volcanoes.

Okeefe, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Origin of tektites

The origin of tektites has been obscure because of the following dilemma. The application of physical principles to the data available on tektites points strongly to origin from one or more lunar volcanoes; but few glasses of tektite composition have hitherto been reported from the lunar samples. Instead, the lunar silicic glasses consist chiefly of a material very rich in K2O and poor in MgO. The ratio of K2O/MgO is higher in these glasses than in any tektites reported. The solution of the dilemma seems to come from the study of some recently discovered terrestrial deposits of tektite glass with high values of K2O/MgO at the Cretaceous Tertiary boundary. These glasses are found to be very vulnerable to crystallization into sandine or to alteration to smectite. These end products are known and are more abundant than any terrestrial deposits of tektite glass. It seems possible that, in fact, the moon produces tektite glass, mostly of the high K2O-low MgO type; but on Earth these deposits are destroyed. The much less abundant deposits with lower K and higher Mg are observed because they survive. Other objections to the lunar origin hypothesis appear to be answerable.

O'Keefe, John A.↗
NASA NTRS1972

New data on selected Ivory Coast tektites.

Fourteen Ivory Coast tektites exhibit a range of bulk indices of refraction of 1.5156 to 1.5217 plus or minus 0.0004 and of bulk specific gravities of 2.428 to 2.502 plus or minus 0.005. Seven of these Ivory Coast (IVC) tektites were analyzed for major and minor element content. Compared to tektites from other strewn fields, their SiO2 content is low (67.2-69.1%), Al2O3 relatively high (15.8-16.8%), and total iron relatively high but with a more restricted range (6.3-6.8% as FeO). Their lime content is low (0.71-1.35%) compared to Australasian tektites but their MgO/CaO ratio (about 3.1) is unusually high. All other tektite groups have Na2O/K2O ratios less than unity, but the Na2O/K2O ratio of the IVC tektites is slightly greater than unity. Their K/Rb ratios range from 200 to 256 and average 227.

Cuttitta, F.↗
NASA NTRS1978

The tektite problem

Small glassy pebbles, called tektites, are found in widely scattered locations around the world. These tektites appear much like volcanic glass obsidian, but their chemical composition is different from that of any terrestrial lava and they contain far less water and none of obsidian's characteristic microcrystals. No one has ever found the mother lode of a field of tektites. They cannot, therefore, be the product of terrestrial volcanism. Recently acquired knowledge about the moon's surface confirms earlier indications that tektites cannot be bits of lunar soil propelled to the earth by the impact of meteorites on the moon. According to one of two remaining possibilities tektites are bits of terrestrial sedimentary rock excavated by meteorites striking the earth's surface, melted by the heat of impact, and congealed into glass as they travel above the atmosphere to the scattered sites where they are found. The other possibility is that tektites are the remains of gobs of lava fired at the earth by volcanic activity on the moon.

Okeefe, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Tektites and their origin

A study was conducted of the literature pertaining to the origin and characteristics of tektites. Topics discussed include tektite distribution in geographical locations, shapes of tektites, internal structure of tektites, physical properties, mechanical properties, optical properties, chemical composition, and comparisons with compositions of impact materials. Various arguments are presented on the terrestrial origin of tektites. It was found that some lunar craters of considerable size must be the products of volcanism which occurred during the past few million years, and that the moon must have within it a reservoir of rock which is considerably more like the mantle of the earth than like the rocks from which the basalts of the lunar crust are derived.

Okeefe, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Fe-57 Moessbauer study of tektites

Moessbauer measurements were made on selected moldavite, australite, philippinite, and Georgia tektites. The spectra consist of two apparent lines, but at least two quadrupole doublets can be fitted to these spectra. The Moessbauer parameters for these doublets indicate that they arise from Fe2+ ions with local environments, which are relatively rich and relatively poor in calcium, respectively, similar to those in clinopyroxenes. No evidence for Fe3+/Fe2+ ratios above 0.01 (estimated detection limit) have been found in any tektite. Tektites are considerably more reduced than previously believed, and the extent of the reduction shows little or no variation among different types of tektites. These results limit the source materials of tektites to minerals in which the iron is uniformly highly reduced and in which the iron is contained clinopyroxene-like phases.

Evans, B. J.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Age and provenance of the target materials for tektites and possible impactites as inferred from Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr systematics

Chemical, trace element, and isotopic compositions of tektites are consistent with production by melting of sediments derived from the old terrestrial continental crust. Each tektite group is characterized by a uniform Nd model age, interpreted as the time of formation of the crustal segment which weathered to form the parent sediment for the tektites. Sr model ages are variable within each group, reflecting Rb-Sr fractionation, and, in the favorable limit of very high Rb/Sr ratios, approach the time of sedimentation of the parent material which melted to form the tektites. Unlike tektites, which are dense homogeneous objects, sanidine spherules are porous, fine grained inhomogeneous objects. The leaching experiment employed by the present study shows that the sanidine spherules could have been formed by an oceanic impact involving basaltic crust and overlying sediments or seawater.

Shaw, H. F.↗
NASA NTRS1962

Aerodynamic Evidence Pertaining to the Entry of Tektites into the Earth's Atmosphere

Evidence is presented which shows that the Australian and Java tektites entered the earth's atmosphere and experienced ablation by severe aerodynamic heating in hypervelocity flight. The laboratory experiments on hypervelocity ablation have reproduced ring-wave flow ridges and coiled circumferential flanges like those found on certain of these tektites. Systematic striae distortions exhibited in a thin layer beneath the front surface of australites also are reproduced in the laboratory ablation experiments, and are shown to correspond to the calculated distortions for aerodynamic ablation of a glass. About 98 percent of Australian tektites represent aerodynamically stable configurations during the ablative portion of an entry trajectory. Certain meteorites exhibit surface features similar to those on tektites.

AERODYNAMIC HEATING↗