Post by 1dave on Mar 15, 2020 11:07:29 GMT -5
"" Georgiaites,
One of the largest tektites (or natural glasses) to be found in Georgia, this georgiaite was discovered in Dodge County in 2003. The glass is illuminated from behind to emphasize its translucent nature.
Large Georgiaite
found in the soil of Georgia's Coastal Plain, are rare natural glasses produced by asteroid or comet impact. These rounded, translucent olive green masses average one to two inches in diameter and commonly have pitted surfaces. Georgiaites, like arrowheads, are often found in areas where the soil has been disturbed, such as in freshly plowed fields and gravel pits. Of the approximately 1,700-2,000 georgiaites found to date, most are from Dodge and Bleckley counties, although a few have been found in surrounding counties. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of georgiaites is their age; scientists have dated several of them at 35 million years old.
Superficially, georgiaites look like volcanic glass, or obsidian; however, there was no volcanic activity in or near Georgia 35 million years ago, and georgiaites lack the mineral crystals that characterize volcanic glass. Natural glasses of the same age from Texas, called bediasites, and smaller spherules of glass dating from the same era have been found in deep-sea sediments off the eastern coast of North America and in the Gulf of Mexico. Natural glasses of different ages have also been found in central Europe (15-million-year-old moldavites), in Africa's Ivory Coast (1-million-year-old tektites), and in Indochina and Australia (800,000-year-old indochinites and australites). All of these glasses, including the georgiaites, are known as tektites.""
