Impactite

Impactite is an informal term describing a rock created or modified by the impact of a meteorite.^[1] The term encompasses shock-metamorphosed target rocks, melts (suevites) and mixtures of the two, as well as sedimentary rocks with significant impact-derived components (shocked mineral grains, tektites, anomalous geochemical signatures, etc.). In June 2015, NASA reported that impact glass has been detected on the planet Mars - such material may contain preserved signs of ancient life—if life existed.^[2]

When a meteor strikes a planet's surface, the energy release from the impact can melt rock and soil into a liquid. If the liquid cools and hardens quickly into a solid, impact glass forms before the atoms have time to arrange into a crystal lattice. Impact glass is dark brown, almost black, and partly transparent.^[3]

Some localities

Alga crater on Mars - detection of impact glass deposit - possible site for preserved ancient life.^[2]

• Alamo bolide impact (Late Devonian) of Nevada
• Alga crater on the planet Mars^[2]
• Charlevoix crater of Québec
• Darwin glass from Tasmania
• Manicouagan crater of Québec
• Neugrund crater of Québec
• Nördlinger Ries crater
• Rochechouart crater
• Wabar impact site

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Impactite.

• Glossary of meteoritics
• Meteorite shock stage

References

External links

• Meteorite crater glossary

Impact cratering on Earth Lists Worldwide Africa Antarctica Asia Australia Europe North America South America By country Confirmed ≥20 km diameter Acraman Amelia Creek Araguainha Beaverhead Boltysh Carswell Charlevoix Chesapeake Bay Chicxulub Clearwater East & West Gosses Bluff Haughton Kamensk Kara Karakul Keurusselkä Lappajärvi Logancha Manicouagan Manson Mistastin Mjølnir Montagnais Morokweng Nördlinger Ries Obolon' Popigai Presqu'île Puchezh-Katunki Rochechouart Saint Martin Shoemaker Siljan Ring Slate Islands Steen River Strangways Sudbury Tookoonooka Tunnunik Vredefort Woodleigh Yarrabubba Topics Alvarez hypothesis Breccia Coesite Complex crater Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary Cryptoexplosion Ejecta blanket Impact crater Impact structure Impactite Late Heavy Bombardment Lechatelierite Meteorite Moldavite Ordovician meteor event Planar deformation features Shatter cone Shock metamorphism Shocked quartz Stishovite Suevite Tektite Research Baldwin, Ralph Belknap Barringer, Daniel Barringer Medal Chao, Edward C T Dietz, Robert S Hartmann, William K Melosh, H Jay Ryder, Graham Schultz, Peter H Shoemaker, Eugene Earth Impact Database Impact Field Studies Group Lunar and Planetary Institute Traces of Catastrophe