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Ablated tektite from the central Indian Ocean
Author(s) -
Glass B. P.,
Chapman Dean R.,
Prasad M. Shyam
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1996.tb02074.x
Subject(s) - geology , indian ocean , atmosphere (unit) , paleontology , oceanography , geochemistry , geography , meteorology
A well‐preserved ablated (button‐shaped) tektite recovered from the surface sediments of the central Indian Ocean lacks flow ridges and has apparently undergone ablation of 6.9 to 7.9 mm. The lack of flow ridges and amount of ablation indicate that, if it originated in Southeast Asia, it must have had a very shallow trajectory (only a few degrees) and a velocity on the order of 7 km/s as it re‐entered the atmosphere. The central Indian Ocean tektite is compositionally similar to high‐magnesium (HMg) australites found at Serpentine Lakes and Lake Wilson, Australia, and to some HMg microtektites found in deep‐sea sediments from the central Indian Ocean. This discovery supports a previous conclusion that the Australasian tektite strewn field covers most of the Indian Ocean.