Tektite | Properties, Distribution, & Facts - Encyclopedia Britannica

Form and markings

Four principal tektite types can be distinguished: (1) microtektites, (2) Muong-Nong type tektites, (3) splash-form tektites, and (4) australites.

Microtektites have diameters of less than 2 mm (0.08 inch). Their form is most often nearly spherical, although a few are oblate spheroids, and some are shaped like rods, teardrops, and dumbbells. These forms are those typically taken up by rotating liquid drops. Some microtektites also appear to be corroded, having deep grooves or pits.

Muong-Nong type tektites, named for the site in Vietnam where they were first found, are centimetre- to decimetre-size objects and include the largest known tektites. They are chunky in form, often tablet-shaped, and often show layering, each of the layers being 1 mm or so in thickness.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

Splash-form tektites have shapes like the microtektites but are about one million times as massive. Spheres (the majority), oblate spheroids, and a few dumbbells, teardrops, disks, and cylinders are found. Splash-form tektites are always marked by corrosion. The two most common kinds of corrosion are (1) a system of hemispherical pits of all sizes and (2) a system of straight grooves of uniform width on a given specimen. Some tektites also show long furrows that meander over the surface like worm tracks. Many specimens display a set of fine lines that are the surface exposures of a system of contorted layers (schlieren) extending through the tektite and corresponding to variations in the silica content. They grade into the layering of the Muong-Nong tektites.

Australites and related forms comprise about 10 percent of the tektites found in Australia. They show a characteristic lenslike form, with an attached flange around the edge (see Figure 3), the whole having the shape of a saucer of ice cream. Flanged australites have clearly been formed by the heating and melting of bodies that are much like the splash-form tektites. Transition forms between the splash-form tektites and the australites have been recovered.