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tektite
Sign in to savethumb|250px|Two splash-form tektites, molten terrestrial ejecta from a [[meteorite impact]]
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
13 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Classification
- Occurrence
- Age
- Origins
- Terrestrial source theory
- Nonterrestrial source theories
- See also
- References
- Notes
- Literature
- Books
- External links
thumb|250px|Two splash-form tektites, molten terrestrial ejecta from a [[meteorite impact]]
Tektites () are gravel-sized bodies composed of black, green, brown or grey natural glass formed from terrestrial debris ejected during meteorite impacts. The term was coined by Austrian geologist Franz Eduard Suess (1867–1941), son of Eduard Suess. They generally range in size from millimetres to centimetres. Millimetre-scale tektites are known as microtektites.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “tektite” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.