A study of tektites

A three-year research program at Boston University is described. A field survey was made in Texas, Georgia, Martha's Vineyard, and southern states along the Jackson formation. Sandstone taken from the tektite fields was fused into a glass by means of a solar furnace with an energy expenditure of 1.6×1011 ergs g−1. Although solar furnace glass resembled tektite material in its gross characteristics, there were notable differences in the magnetic domains and in the bubble content. Ablation experiments were carried out using tektite material in a plasma jet. It was found that with a Mach number of 0.47 the flange, so characteristic of flight forms, did not form as a stable structure. The new evidence has been combined with existing data in a logic table to assess the various theories of the origin of tektites. Arguments and interpretations are given on the basis of this table to show that tektites are produced as splashes of fused material from terrestrial craters formed by impact with a meteorite or asteroid.