tektiten.

1909 H. B. C. Sollas & W. J. Sollas tr. E. Suess Face of Earth IV. v. xv The acid felspar rocks of the earth are represented among the meteorites..by the once completely molten tektites (Moldavite, Australite, Billitonite).

1935 Times 28 Jan. 15/4 ‘Tektites’ from Bohemia and Moravia have for more than 150 years been cut as gem stones under the names ‘obsidian’, ‘water chrysolite’ and ‘moldavite’.

1936 Geogr. Jrnl. 88 287 Tektites under various names are found in many parts of the world, but those which are peculiar to Australia, designated australites, appear to be more numerous as well as much more distinctive than any other class.

1956 Antiquity 30 70 These stone implements, together with the fossil remains of the stegodon (an extinct elephant), rhinoceros and other mammals, were often found in association with tektites, a form of glass meteorite.

1963 J. A. O'Keefe Tektites i. 1 Earlier writers referred to tektites as obsidianites.

1969 Times 29 Aug. 10/3 Tektites, glassy, button-shaped objects which are probably of extraterrestrial origin, have been found in the Libyan desert and dated by radioactive methods to 35 million years ago.

1971 Sci. Amer. Oct. 55/2 Well-preserved Australian tektites show clear evidence of aerodynamic shaping.

1960 Listener 22 Dec. 1141/2 Some of the tektite fields are well away from either active or extinct volcanoes.

1968 R. A. Lyttleton Myst. Solar Syst. vi. 183 There are eight main areas in the world generally accepted to be genuine tektite-fields.