Mysterious Shards of Glass Strewn Across Miles of Atacama Desert

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A significant discovery in Chile's Atacama Desert reveals a vast field of glass fragments, stretching 75 kilometers, formed by intense airbursts near the end of the Pleistocene. These twisted and folded silicate glasses, some reaching up to 50 cm in size, suggest nearly simultaneous explosive events occurring seconds to minutes apart. The formation process involved ultrahigh temperatures and dynamic emplacement, with evidence of meteoritic dust and thousands of meteoritic grains trapped within the glass. The composition of these grains aligns with materials found in comets and CI group primitive chondrites, indicating a possible link to cometary impacts rather than multiple fragmented comets causing the airbursts. This research sheds light on the geological history of the region and the potential effects of cosmic events on Earth's surface.
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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.
 
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I take it this is something that would not be explained by a comet with multiple pieces all doing air bursts?
 
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