Libyan Desert glass
Libyan Desert glassorGreat Sand Sea glassis animpactite, made mostly oflechatelierite,found in areas in the easternSahara, in thedeserts of eastern Libyaandwestern Egypt. Fragments of desert glass can be found over areas of tens of squarekilometers.
Geologic origin
The origin of desert glass is uncertain. Meteoritic origins have long been considered possible, and recent research links the glass to impact features, such as zircon-breakdown, vaporized quartz and meteoritic metals, and to an impact crater. Some geologists associate the glass with radiative melting from meteoric large aerial bursts, making it analogous to trinitite created from sand exposed to the thermal radiation of a nuclear explosion. Libyan Desert glass has been dated as having formed about 29 million years ago. Like obsidian, it was knapped[citation needed] and used to make tools during the Pleistocene.
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