Wabar Meteorite Impactite (Melt Glass) - 0.7g Specimen

About 6400 years ago a massive IIIAB iron meteorite fell in the Rub' Al-Khali desert of Saudi Arabia. It created at least 3 craters which measure 11m, 64m and 116m in diameter, however there may still be more hidden beneath the moving sands. The tremendous impact in the quartz-rich sand created impactite material which was strewn around the craters for up to several hundred meters away. Two different types of impactite formed when the meteorite hit. One was a black glass while the other was a less vitreous white material and often more vesiculated in appearance.

The black melted glass formed at the shock front of the impacting body when the quartz-rich sand mixed with the meteorite mass. Most of the impacting meteorite would have been consumed in this high temperature mixing during the first few seconds of impact and is the reason the black glass is iron-rich. The white, sandstone fragments are the second form of impactite material. It formed when the pressure and heat of the impact shockwave caused the quartz-rich sand fragments to fuse.

Sometimes the slower moving pieces of white impactite were engulfed by the black molten glass while still in the air. Once engulfment was complete, the temperatures were so high that it was possible for the impactite fragment inside to have been converted to a bubbly, white glassy pumice as depicted in the example below. This specimen is part of the Meteorites Australia Collection (MA.04.0033).

Wabar Impactite (Melt Glass) - 0.7g Specimen. (MA.04.0033)

Wabar Impactite (Melt Glass) - 0.7g Specimen. (MA.04.0033)

Wabar Impactite (Melt Glass) - 0.7g Specimen. (MA.04.0033)

Back to 'The Unusual Meteorites Features Page' menu...