Microtektites from Victoria Land Transantarctic Mountains

We report on the discovery of a microtektite (microscopic impact glass particles) strewn eld from the Victoria Land Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. Microtektites were found in the local detritus accumulated in weathering pits and in joints of several glacially summits (~2600 m above sea level [asl]) distributed latitudinally for 520 km. Their and chemical properties defi ne a coherent population with a geochemical affi nity to microtektites and compatible Quaternary 40Ar-39Ar formation age. We therefore that Transantarctic Mountain microtektites (TAMM) defi ne the southern extension of Australasian strewn fi eld. The margin of the Australasian strewn fi eld is thus shifted southward ~3000 km and the maximum distance from the putative parent impact site in Indochina ~2000 km. This emphasizes the paradox of the missing parent crater of the largest (>10% of the Earth’s surface) and youngest tektite strewn fi eld discovered on Earth. Furthermore, are depleted in volatile elements (i.e., Pb, Na, K, Rb, Sr, Rb, and Cs) rela tive to ones, suggesting a possible relationship between high-temperature–time regimes the microtektite-forming process and high-angle trajectories in the ejecta plume.