tektite
/ˈtɛktʌɪt
/noun Geology
A small black glassy object found in numbers over certain areas of the earth’s surface, believed to have been formed as molten debris in meteorite impacts and scattered widely through the air.And downstream of those areas there are tektites being found, but only one or two per county....
- Samples of sediment taken from the seafloor southeast of the crater, but not those obtained elsewhere around the crater, contain small mineral globules called tektites, one hallmark of an extraterrestrial impact.
- These bits of glass, called tektites, appear to be scattered across the entire region that the researchers examined, suggesting that much of the Pampean Plain is a vast tektite field.
Origin
Early 20th century: coined in German from Greek tēktos 'molten' (from tēkein 'melt') + -ite1.