On the Origin of Tektites

Abstract

The properties of tektites as yet afford little direct evidence of the source of their material and process of formation, but their forms strongly suggest that they arrive through the high atmosphere at small cosmic speeds. Their ages indicate a frequency of production of tektite‐fields of 106 to 107 years and this would be consistent with some rare catastrophic event such as cometary encounter or a large meteoritic impact. Immediate formation of tektites by such processes seems not to be possible, but for encounter with a cometary dust‐cloud an accretion‐stream could result and tektites form secondarily within this. Similarly, a sufficiently large meteorite impacting the Earth could result in the ejection of material far beyond the atmosphere, and this material condensed into fine particles moving in elliptic orbits surrounding the Earth could form an accretion‐stream depositing tektites in the antipodal regions of the planet. This last hypothesis seems the most hopeful if a terrestrial origin of the material proves essential, since it would also meet the requirement of final entry of the tektites through the high atmosphere. Copyright © 1968, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved