Atacamaite

3D Model

Glassy materials created during impacts are known as ‘tektites’ and some are associated to specific impact craters. This Atacamaite is an impact glass recovered from a strewn field in the Atacama Desert. These tektites are centimetre-sized splash-form objects (this specimen is 3 cm long) and formed due to melting of local magmatic rocks. They contain some contamination from the original iron meteorite, which was likely an IIAB iron group. Dating suggests that they were formed in an impact some 7.83 ±0.26 million years ago (Read more in Gattacceca et al., 2021)