[meteorite-list] Comparison of Belize and Australasian Tektites

[brian burrer]

hmm

On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 1:57 PM, brian burrer <brimane at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello List,
>
> The occurence of newly discovered tektites in Belize and their
> relationship to Australasian tektites has been pondered by some on
> this list.  While the radiometric ages are similar it is prudent to
> look for more similarities to make the case for an association.  The
> information that has been gathered from studying the Belize specimens
> indicates no association is likely.
> The silica dioxide content is quite low in the Belize samples (62%)
> compared to Australasian (73%).  Silica content does vary somewhat for
> any group of tektites but the Belize readings are somewhat below any
> known for tektites from any event .
> Radiometric dating of the two types shows a gap of forty to fifty
> thousand years between events.  Even accounting for margin of error it
> seems unlikely the two events are actually a singular happening.
> Another indicator of separate identities comes from the great distance
> between the source in Asia and Belize.  It is more than twice as far
> from the gulf of Tonkin (crater location?) to Belize as it is to the
> farthest reaches of Australia.  Tektites ejected over vast distances
> such as those that fell in Australia have severe aerodynamic ablation
> but this trait is not shared by specimens from Belize.  The Belize
> specimens have shapes more suggestive of proximal or midrange
> tektites.
>
> Happy hunting,
> Brian
>