Mysterious Shards of Glass Strewn Across Miles of Atacama Desert

[Astronuc]

TL;DR Summary

A mysterious field of glass fragments, scattered across Chile's Atacama Desert, and aligned in a vast corridor stretching 75 kilometers long (almost 50 miles).

A mysterious field of glass fragments, scattered across Chile's Atacama Desert, and aligned in a vast corridor stretching 75 kilometers long (almost 50 miles). They first came to scientists' attention about a decade ago.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...-of-desert-and-we-finally-know-why/ar-AAQg5FShttps://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gs...pread-glasses-generated-by-cometary-fireballs

Twisted and folded silicate glasses (up to 50 cm across) concentrated in certain areas across the Atacama Desert near Pica (northern Chile) indicate nearly simultaneous (seconds to minutes) intense airbursts close to Earth’s surface near the end of the Pleistocene. The evidence includes mineral decompositions that require ultrahigh temperatures, dynamic modes of emplacement for the glasses, and entrained meteoritic dust. Thousands of identical meteoritic grains trapped in these glasses show compositions and assemblages that resemble those found exclusively in comets and CI group primitive chondrites.

 

[phinds]

I take it this is something that would not be explained by a comet with multiple pieces all doing air bursts?

 

[AlexTheParticle]

The glasses are chemically and texturally homogeneous and formed at high temperatures by atmospheric entry heating and cooling of discrete clumps of chondritic and cometary materials. The glasses have been transported short distances from their source areas, and the shards were deposited in a narrow corridor extending for ~75 km. The distribution of the glasses, which are easily recognizable in the field, indicates that the airbursts were geographically restricted and that the fragments did not travel far from the explosion site. The formation of the glasses must have been triggered by a series of closely spaced airbursts, as would be expected from a comet or asteroid that broke up into multiple fragments as it entered Earth’s atmosphere. These findings provide strong evidence for a catastrophic event in the recent geological past, and suggest that similar events may have occurred throughout Earth’s history.

Wow, this is fascinating! It's amazing to think that these glass fragments were formed by intense airbursts from comets or asteroids. It's also interesting that the distribution of the fragments indicates that the airbursts were geographically restricted, suggesting a series of closely spaced events. I wonder if there have been any other similar events throughout Earth's history? This definitely warrants further study and research. Thanks for sharing!