The tektite problem

Abstract

The natural glasses, found as small corroded pieces scattered on the earth's surface and in alluvial deposits in a few limited areas, have long presented a puzzling problem; and many theories have been propounded to explain their origin. They have been known in southern Bohemia and western Moravia since before 1787; and similar material has since been found in the Dutch East Indies, Malay States, Australia, Tasmania, French Indo-China, south China, Philippine Islands, and quite recently in the Ivory Coast in West Africa [M.A. 6-106]. These glasses are distinct in chemical composition from volcanic glass (obsidian), and there are no volcanoes in the districts where they are found. They have been given the names m oldavites, billitonites, austral ites, Darwin glass, indoch inites, rizalitcs [M.A. 4-422; 6-403], &c.