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Tektites are naturally occurring glass rocks formed when the extreme heat and pressure generated by a large meteorite impact vaporizes and liquefies terrestrial rock and spreads ejecta from the impact crater over a strewnfield. While some tektites are found as irregular blobs or angular fragments, many are aerodynamically shaped into "splash forms" such as spheres, discs, rods, teardrops, and dumbbells while spinning in a still plastic state as they travel through the atmosphere. Some tektites also exhibit signs of ablation (secondary melting) caused by transit through the atmosphere at hypersonic velocities, evidence that they may have been flung scores to hundreds of kilometers above the Earth's surface during the impact event. The surface texture of tektites is often pitted or grooved and this texture may be caused by the process of spallation, where pieces of glass pop out of the tektite's surface as it passes through the atmosphere.

Melting and rapidly cooling granitic rock will produce glass of tektite composition. The relative abundance of various rare earth elements in tektites correlates with that of terrestrial rocks, evidence that tektites are composed of liquefied crustal material. While similar in composition to obsidians extruded by volcanic processes, tektite glass is more homogenous in nature and is almost completely devoid of microscopic mineral crystals characteristic of obsidian. Tektite glass is also much drier than obsidian with an average water content of only 0.005%. In addition to being among the driest of rocks, melted zircons have been discovered inside some tektites, indicating they were formed under phenomenal temperatures and pressures exceeding those normally occurring on the surface of the Earth.

There are four well established strewnfields where tektites are found: the North American, the Moldavite, the Ivory Coast and the Australasian. The Australasian tektite strewnfield is by far the largest, covering approximately a tenth of the Earth's surface encompassing Western Australia, most of Southeast Asia including Cambodia, Laos, Southern China, Thailand, and Vietnam, the islands of Indonesia, Java, Malaya and the Philippines, and reaching out far into the Indian Ocean. Tektites from the Australasian strewnfield tend to be black in color, with thin edges exhibiting yellow to brownish coloration when examined against a strong backlight.

Tektites have been recovered from archaeological sites dating back thousands of years. Stone age tool makers knapped surgically sharp flaked tools from tektite glass and there is evidence of tektites employed as talismans and other articles of religious significance by Aboriginal and other ancient cultures.

Tektite5 - Indochinite Tektite - $9.55

Locality: Guangdong Province, China Approximate Size: 45mm long x 27mm wide x 15mm thick. Please note the image at left may be larger than life to help show the fine details. Approximate Weight: 23.9 grams This very affordable Indochinite tektite from Guangdong Province, China in the Australasian tektite strewnfield will make a nice addition to any space rock collection.

Tektite8 - Indochinite Tektite - $8.50

Locality: Guangdong Province, China Approximate Size: 34mm long x 30mm wide x 25mm thick. Please note the image at left may be larger than life to help show the fine details. Approximate Weight: 28.3 grams This very affordable Indochinite tektite from Guangdong Province, China in the Australasian tektite strewnfield will make a nice addition to any space rock collection.

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