Description
Moldavite Tektite
- Moldavite 6.2 grams
- Tektite (Impact Glass)
- Approx. 15 Million Years Old
- Found in Czech Republic
- This translucent green specimen measures 1.18″ wide. Specimens are often severely etched into unusual shapes by acidic subsurface waters.
- MORE Tektites and Meteorites for Sale
Moldavite is thought to have formed about 15 million years ago in the impact event that produced the Ries and Steinheim craters in southeastern Germany. An incoming asteroid is thought to have broken into two pieces that produced this pair of craters. The impacting bodies approached from the southwest. They hit with a high enough velocity to melt and splatter the target rock across a strewn field that includes portions of what is now the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany.
Most of the splatter solidified in the air and fell to Earth in the Czech Republic. Meteorite experts have named these materials “impactites.” Moldavite is also considered to be a mineraloid because it is a naturally occurring, inorganic solid that does not have a crystalline structure. It solidified so quickly that atoms did not have enough time to organize themselves into minerals.
Meteor Impact with Earth
