Abstract
Tektites are considered to have originated (1) as ejecta from terrestrial cometary impacts1,2 or from terrestrial meteorite or asteroid impacts3,4; (2) in cometary impacts in which splash-form tektites were ejected and Muong Nong-type tektites were produced in their place5,6; or (3) as volcanic ejecta from the Moon7. Welded breccias (Fig. 1) have recently been reported in several Muong Nong-type tektites from Thailand8. Two additional welded breccia structures of a more complex nature are described here which show evidence of having experienced two distinct periods of high temperatures during their formation, separated by a minimum of several minutes of cooling through the annealing range. This implies a prolonged multi-stage formation process entirely at the site of origin. In contrast, theories of ejection of tektite glass from terrestrial meteorite impact craters or cometary collision events imply instant formation.
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Futrell, D. Implication of welded breccia in Muong Nong-type tektites. Nature 319, 663–665 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/319663a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/319663a0
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