Tektites & Impactites

Tektites and impactites are natural glasses and shocked rocks formed by the extraordinary heat and pressure of a large meteorite impact, rather than by volcanic or hydrothermal processes. When a sizable body strikes the Earth, terrestrial rock and soil at the impact site is instantaneously melted, vaporized, or shocked, producing distinctive materials found nowhere else in nature — tektites are typically small, aerodynamically shaped glass bodies flung from the impact site and cooled mid-flight, while impactites cover a broader range of impact-altered rock, from shocked and fractured target rock to breccias fused with impact melt.

Our tektite and impactite specimens are drawn from several of the world's well-documented strewn fields and impact structures, including moldavites from the Ries impact event in the Czech Republic, Libyan desert glass from the Great Sand Sea, and other tektite and impactite material tied to known, dated impact events. Each specimen is a tangible piece of one of the most violent and geologically significant kinds of events Earth experiences — a genuinely different category of natural material from ordinary minerals or meteorites, and a fascinating addition for collectors interested in impact geology, planetary science, or simply owning something with a story this dramatic behind it.