VOL. 76, NO.

26 3OURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH SEPTEMBER 10, 1971

Australasian
TektiteGeographic
Pattern, Craterand
Rayof Origin,andTheoryof TektiteEvents

AmesResearchCenter,NASA, Moffett Field, California 94035

Chemical data recently obtained on 18 major and minor elements in 507 tektites from
205 localities are used to map the geographicdistribution pattern of Australasiantektites.
Areas of distinct chemicaltype outline a coarsestructure to the pattern: an elongatezone
of ItCa tektites stretching northwest acrossAustralia, a crescentzone of HMg tektites
curving from Australia to Indonesia to the Philippines, and a teardrop-shapedzone of
normal indochinitesarcingnortheastover SoutheastAsia. Various setsof matchingpolygons
of specific gravity and matching chemical analyses of individual specimensdefine a fine
structurecompatiblewith this coarsestructure.The over-all pattern is not radial, as would
be required for a terrestrial origin, but is systematically curved. Numerous moon-to-earth
trajectories were computed for ejecta leaving various lunar craters in a search for com-
patible placesof origin. It was found that the complextektite distributionpattern is matched
by the trajectory landingpattern for ejecta leavingTycho, and that the requiredheading
directionfor this ejecta coincideswith one of Tycho'smost prominentrays. From a study
of visibleelementscomprising this and othersimilarrays,a 'cormatecrater'theoryof tektite
eventsis formulatedwhichoffersa reconciliation of certaintektite observations previously
considered
contradictory.
Some implicationsto selenology,
and comparisons
with Apollo
data (especiallywith rock 12013),are briefly discussed.

INTRODUCTION localities
separated
by as muchas 10,000km
Among four separate tektite groups pres- [Glass, 1967]. On the basis of the observed
ently known, the Australasiangroup is the microtekrite
abundance, the massof glassesti-
youngest,most numerous,and most widely mated to have fallen in this tektite event is of
strewn. Tektites from this group have been the orderof 100milliontons[Cassidyet al.,
discussed in the scientific literature for 126 1969].
years, beginningwith the descriptionof an At presentthereis reasonable agreement as
oval australitebutton by Darwin [1844]. I-Ie to how tektitesformed,but rife contentionas
suggested an origin as a volcanicbomb that to where.After the discovery of metallicspher-
burst after spinningin flight through the air ules of meteoriticFe-Ni within phillippinites
(Figure 1). Subsequent evidence,however,has and indochinites[Chao et al., 1964], and of
focusedon a type of natural event much rarer grainsof coesite in thailandires
[Walter, 1965],
than earth volcanism. Concordant age datings it has beenwidely thoughnot universallyac-
by the K-Ar method [Gentnet and Ziihringer, ceptedthat tektites originatedas splashfrom
1960] and the fission-trackmethod [Fiefschef a large meteoritic impact crater. In order to
et al., 1965; Gentnetet al., 1967] indicatethat allow the small tektites to disperseover the
the Australasian tektites formed in a single vast distancesobserved,it would have been
event about 700,000years ago. Approximately necessary, if this impact occurredon earth, for
three million of these tektites have been re- the atmosphereabove the terrestrial crater to
covered to date at numerouslocalities spread be removed.Sucha removal,however,requires
from Tasmaniato SouthChina, from Thailand the order of l0 •"'erg of energy,an amountsuf-
to the Philippines. Moreover, Australasian ficient to excavate an earth crater several hun-
microtektires have been recovered in deep-sea dred kilometersin diameter [Lin, 1966; Chap.-
cores from the Indian and Pacific Oceans at man and Gault, 1967]. No crater this size of
Australasian tektite age has yet been identi-
Copyright(•) 1971 by the American GeophysicalUnion. fied on earth. If the impact occurredon the at-

6309
63 ! 0 DEaN R. CI-IA?M•N

from sucha pattern the place of origin could

be pin-pointed.During this period,more than
a million tektites were inspected,about 47,000
individuallymeasuredfor specificgravity, and
507 tektites from 205 different localities were
chemicallyanalyzed for major and minor ele-
ments by a singlemethod of good precision.
An additional 200 tektites were analyzed for
major elementsonly. A summary of the chem-
ical data, without a discussionof the geo-
graphicdistributionpattern,hasbeenpresented
recently [Chapman and Scheiber,1969]. Com-
plete tables of the chemicalanalysesare now
being prepared for publication.The objective
of the presentpaper is to presentand analyze
the data on earth distributionpattern of the
Australasian tektites.
A fundamental thesisof thispaperis that the
tektite geographicdistributionpattern estab-
lishesthe trajectory landingpattern; and that
this pattern, in turn, providesa basisfor de-
terminingfrom wherein spacethe showerorig-
inated. The landing pattern for earth and moon
origin would differ greatly. Objectsof earthly
originwouldtravel in nearly planartrajectories
Fig. 1. First illustration known of a tektite for which the over-all distributionpattern, as
[from Darwin, 1844], thought by Charles Darwin delineatedby variouschemicallydistinct com-
to be a volcanic bomb. ponentswithin the shower,would form a set
of radial elements,like the spokesof a wheel,
mospherelessmoon, a smaller source crater, projecting toward a common hub where
several tens of kilometers to a hundred kilom- terrestrial crater of origin would be located.Ob-
eters in diameter, could account for 108 tons jects of lunar origin, however, would travel to
of glass on earth. Tektite form and surface earth along nonplanar trajectories curved in
sculpture have been closelyreproducedin the three dimensions,so that their distribution on
aerodynamiclaboratory, and an ablation analy- earth, owing to the combined effects of tra-
sis, checked by laboratory experiments, has jectory curvature and of earth rotation about
indicated that the amount of ablation on austra- an inclined axis, would form a nonradial pat-
lites is compatiblewith a lunar origin [Chap- tern of curved elements.Suchelements,together
man and Larson, 1963]. A preliminary tra- with computer calculations of moon-to-earth
jectory study of material originating from ten trajectories,would provide a means of identify-
large, young, lunar craters has pointed to ing the particular lunar crater of tektite origin.
Tycho, in the lunar uplands,as a prime suspect Previous evidencegreatly simplifiesthe task
[Chapman, 1964]. At present, however, age of findingthe place of origin. The aerodynamic
values for Tycho and other lunar craters are ablation conditions and the initial tektite tem-
unknown; and Apollo missionshave not yet re- peratures required to reproduce the common
turned samplesfrom landing sites in the up- spallation-typecoreshapesdemonstratethat be-
lands. fore atmosphere entry the tektites were indi-
The presentpaper is basedon a 7-year pro- vidual pieces of rigid glass. The absenceof
gram of tektite collectionand chemicalanalysis cosmic-ray exposure evidence, e.g., A1'•6, cos-
conductedfor the specificpurpose of delineat- toogenieneon, and cosmic-raytracks like those
ing the geographicdistribution pattern of the present in meteorites, indicates that tektites
Australasian strewnfield. It was hoped that have neither traveled far nor long in space
 AUSTRALASIAN Tr•TITr 0RI•I• 6311

[Reynolds, 1960; Viste and Anders, 1962; The tektite chemical data obtained specifi-
Fleischer et al., 1965]. Hence, they came as a cally for mapping the distributionpattern has
showerfrom an impact either on the moon or revealed several distinct chemical groups and
someplaceon earth. Since only a very small many discernible chemical types within these
percentageof glassis formed during a hyper- groups[Chapmanand Scheiber,1969]. A clas-
velocity impact, it follows that the crater of sificationnomenclatureevolved along two lines:
genesiswas large indeed. The current age of somegroups,like certain commercialproducts,
0.7 m.y. for the Australasian shower corre- were named after the chief chemicalingredient
sponds to formation in geologically recent that sets them apart from the multitude (e.g.,
times. Consequently,the task reducesto one HCa, HMg, LCaHA1, HCu,B, wherein H de-
of finding a large, geologicallyyoung crater, on notes 'high' and L 'low'); other groups and
the earth or moon, so positionedthat ejecta types, like French wines,were named after the
spurtedfrom it wouldshoweron earth in pre- area from which the varietal is chiefly re-
ciselythe tektite landingpattern. nowned (e.g., Dalat type, Chiang-Rai type,
It is the designof the sectionsthat follow, Serpentine Lakes type, normal indochinite,
first, to outline varioussysematicfeaturesin normal australite-philippinite). From recent in-
the distributionpattern of the Australasiantek- vestigationsof the isotopesof oxygen [Taylor
tites; second,to illustrate a few of many com- and Epstein, 1969] and of rubidium-strontium
puted landing patterns of moon-to-earthtra- [Compston and Chapman, 1969], the distinct-
jectoriesthat do not match this strewnfield nessof theseprincipal groupingsmade on the
distribution pattern; third, to document the basis of chemistry have been independently
onecomputedlandingpattern that doesmatch; corroborated.
fourth, to note someconsequences to selenology In attempting to map out detailsof the earth
that are believed to follow from the main con- distribution pattern, considerableattention is
clusionof this paper; and finally, to sketch a given to chemicalvarieties that are relatively
theory of tektite events basedon a 'connate uncommonor rare. Very common types, such
crater' concept,which offers a resolutionof as the normal australites-philippinitesand the
certain tektite evidence that heretofore has ap- normal indochinites,which are found in great
pearedto be contradictory. numbers at many different localitiesacrossthe
strewnfield, presumably represent rock types
GEOGRAPI-IIC•DISTRIBUTION PATTERN that were relatively widespreadat the impact
Two assumptions underlie the present site. On the basis of chemistry alone, it would
method of mapping the Australasiantektite be difficult to trace out within the strewnfield
strewnfield: (1) that the target crust material the landing path of tektites that are so wide-
at the impactsitewaschemicallyinhomogeneous, spreadand mutually similar. Hence both spe-
and (2) that lunar impact eiectaupon reaching cific-gravity polygonsand chemistryare used
earth is highly strungout. The first assumption to map the landing path of these common
is basedon the diversespecificgravity popula- types. But the landing path of any rock mass
tions and multifarious chemical variations ob- of uncommonchemistrywhich happenedto be
served among Australasian tektites. The sec- at the impact site, or of any chemicallyunique
ond assumption,as will be illustratedlater, is portion of an inhomogeneous rock mass,could
a basicproperty of the mechanicsof moon-to- be readily traced out within the strewnfield
earth trajectories.The stringingout of ejecta simply by noting where tektites of this uncom-
is also believed to be a natural consequenceof mon or unique chemistry are found. In the
the fluid dynamicsof streamingmaterial at rest of this section,a variety of chemicalchar-
high velocityalongnarrowrays from a crater. acteristicsare used in mapping the distribu-
These two mechanismsacting together would tion pattern.
tend to convert any irregular pattern of chem- Coarsestructure from chemicalgroups. The
ical variations,which may have existedwithin individual geographiczones for each distinct
a ray as it left the moon,into an elongatedor chemicalgroup are demarkedon the map of
streak-like pattern by the time it reached Figure 2. These zonesoutline a coarsestruc-
earth. ture to the distribution pattern. Prominent
6312 Dm• l•. CHAPMAN

in Australia is an LSG-HCa 'streak,' about 300
km wide, stretching northwest for 2200 km
from Tasmania to central Australia. Found
only within this streak, and nowhere else in
the strewnfield,are HCa populationsof low
modal SG (mode _<2.41). Arcing from west-
central Australia northwest across Indonesia,
then northwest over the South China Sea, is
an ItMg 'crescent.' Only within this curved
zonehave tektitesbeenfoundwith HMg chem-
istry (the large square symbolsin this zone
denote HMg specimenswith MgO > 3.4%,
Ni >__210 ppm, and Cr >_ 210 ppm). On the
fringes of this crescent,and also at some lo-
calities within this zone, are 'nearly HMg'
tektites, small square symbols in Figure 2,
denotingMgO > 2.8%, Ni _> 200 ppm, and
Cr >_ 190 ppm. Within a teardrop-shapedzone
stretching northeast over Southeast Asia are
the normal indochinites,with CaO/MgO- I q-
0.2, Ni < 35 ppm, and Cu < 5 ppm. Situatedto
the east, and partly overlapping the normal
indochinites,is the zoneof HCu, B indochinites,
tektites of Muong-Nong type with Cu _> 10
ppm and B _> 30 ppm. Other chemicaltypes
for which geographiczonesare not demarked,
but which are identified by different symbols
in Figure 2, are HA1 australites (A1208 _>
14.9%) found only in eastern Australia;
Chiang-Raitype (indochiniteswith CaO/MgO

HCu, B

C•EMiCALTYPE
- O HCo
o NEARLY HCa
[] HMg
1:3 NEARLY HMg
h HCu, B
ß LCa HAl
• NORMAL
- INDOCHINITE
+ NORMAL
AUSTRALITE-
PHILIPPINITE
O CHIANG-RAI
TYPE
V HAl AUSTRALITE
X OTHER TYPES

Fig. 2. Coarsestructuredistributionpattern of Australasiantektites as determinedby zones

of various chemicaltype.
 Aus,a•s• TEr•?•?E Oami• 6313

greater than or nearly equal to unity, and with nonspongy variety. A wide variety of SG
100 < Ni < 170 ppm) found in SoutheastAsia polygonswas found, as is illustrated in Figure
only in western Thailand and in Malaya; 4. Some populations are very homogeneous
normal austraIite-philippinite (CaO > MgO (Wiang Papao, Figure 4c, others are hetero-
and Ni _< 41 ppm) found essentiallythrough- geneous(Sangiran II, Figure 4b); some are
out the Philippines and southern Australia; bimodal (Figure 4a), other trimodal or even
'nearly HCa' tektites (CaO near lower bound- quadrimodal. These variations in SG polygon
ary of the HCa domain on a CaO versusMgO correlate well with chemical variations: HMg
plot, a.nd with Na.oO> 1.25% insteadof Na•O chemical populationshave heterogeneousSG
< 1.25% as in the HCa group), which are polygonsalwayswith high-SGspecimensabove
found within and near the HCa zones in 2.47 (Figure 4b); normal australite-philip-
Australia and the Philippines. pinites, in contrast, have relatively homoge-
The principal coarse structure features in neousSG polygonswithout specimens above2.47
the strewnfield distribution pattern can also (Figure 4d); while HCa populationsare dis-
be demarked from the range in abundance of tinguishedby bimodal or multimodal SG poly-
individual elements.Useful for this purposeis gons (Figure 4a). Population polygonswith low
the most variable element, Ni, which ranges modal SG, less than 2.42+, are found only in
over a factor of 50, from 11 ppm to 615 ppm. two zones: within the LSG-HCa streak in
This range is arbitrarily divided into four Australia, and within the normal indochinite
parts' low Ni, from 11 to 41 ppm; intermedi- zone in SoutheastAsia. Apart from a few ob-
ate Ni, from 42 to 100 ppm; medium-highNi, viousexceptions, an SG polygonreflectsclosely
from 100 to 290 ppm; and high Ni, from 290 the true materialSG polygonrather than vari-
to 615 ppm. The map in Figure 3 showsthe ations in bubble content [Scheiber, 1970]. In-
regional distribution of Ni abundance. It is asmuch as SG varies inversely with SiOn, it
seenthat low Ni tektites are found throughout follows that an SG population polygon for a
the strewnfield, in Australia, Southeast Asia, given localityrepresents
the spectrumof SiO,
and the Philippines. Hence, low Ni does not variation. Hence it should not be surprising
define a distinct pattern. This circumstance that the coarsestructure pattern of chemical
arises because several different chemical types variations and the SG data are mutually con-
each are low in Ni (e.g., HCa group,LCaHA1 sistent.
group,normalindochinites, and normalaustra- Severalearly attemptsto definea geometric
hte-philippinites).The high Ni tektites, how- pattern within the strewnfielddistributionof
ever, are found only in the HMg group, and Australasian tektites each have led to patterns
demark the same crescent zone as that de- different from that constructed herein. As is
marked by the HMg tektites. High valuesof explainedin Appendix 1, these differencesare
Co and Cr provide still another independen• attributed to the relatively meager quantity of
method of delineatingpreciselythe samecres- data available in earlier investigations.
cent. Fine structure•rom SG-polygonmatchesand
As another example,tektites that are both chemical matches. Four separate conditions
uncommonlylow in Ni (below about 25 pprn are employedto defineadditionaldetail within
Ni) and high in silica (aboveabout 77% SiOn) the strewnfieldpattern. Fine structure is de-
definetwo differentgeographiczones' one that lineatedby tracing loci of 'matching'localities.
is the same as the LSG-HCa streak in Austra- The criterion selected for a match depends
lia, and anotherthat is the sameas the HCu,B upon how commonor rare is a given chemical
zone of Muong-Nongtype tektites in South- type. For a match betweenlocalitiesof the
east Asia. Australasian tektites both low in Ni very commontypes (e.g., normal australites-
and highin SiO•havenot beenfoundelsewhere. philippinites, normal indochinites,Dalat-type
Still another independentsourceof data that indochinites),it was required that either (1)
is most helpful in definingthe distributionpat- SG polygonsmatch for the sametype of tcktite
tern is providedby measurements of specific chemistryor (2) chemicalanalysesmatch for
gravity. Such measurements were made on the same type of SG polygonhaving the same
about 47,000individualt.ektitesof the normal, modal SG. For less commontypes (e.g., ItCa,
6314 DEAN R. CHAPMAN
Ni,ppm
0 II- 41 LOW
'x 42- I00 INTERMEDIATE
a 100-270 MEDIUM-HIGH
• 270•620
•HIGH
,
Fig. 3. Distributionpattern of Australasian
ItMg, ItCu,B, SerpentineLakes type), it was
required that (3) chemicalanalysesmatch for
the sametype of SG polygonhaving the same
modal SG to within 0.01. For the uncommon
or rare types (e.g., Sangiran II, which com-
bines HMg with SG > 2.5), it was required
only that (4) chemical analysesmatch. The
first two matching conditions,which are ap-
plied to very commontypes, are envisionedas
trailing the splashfrom a part of a rock mass
that was relatively widespreadat the impact
site. Match condition 4, in contrast, is en-
visioned as trailing smaller massesof rarer
composition,or of unique chemistry,that hap-
penedto be sweptinto the fusedejectaas it
streamed from the source crater.
tektites as determinedby Ni abundance.
It is emphasized
that the identificationof
strewnfield fine structure for all but the rare or
uncommon chemical varieties involves consid-
eration of both the chemistry of individual
specimensandthe polygons of specificgravity.
Variousexamplesillustratingthe importance of
considering
both chemistryand SG polygons
are presentedin Appendix2.
Inasmuch as a broad spectrum of SG poly-
gonsis observedwithin the strewnfield(Fig-
ure 4), a match betweenpopulationsfrom two
or more different localities is significant.Six
sets of matchingSG populationsare shownin
Figure 5. Elementarycomputations of proba-
bility indicatethat the chanceof accidentally
reproducing twopopulation polygons that match
 AUSTRALASIAN TEKTITE ORIGIN 6315

to this degree over their entire spectrum of gonsare shownconnectedtogetherby solidlines

SG is of the order of one in a thousand. Each in this figure.
match illustrated is for the sametype of tektite A computer was used to search for all pos-
chemistry.From left to right in Figure 5a, the sible matching analyses within the chemical
four-localitymatch is for the low-SG mode of data. The 507 tektite analyses for 18 major
HCa populationsfound along the LSG-HCa and minor elements were digitized on punch
streak in Australia; the match of Pia Oac cards. Altogether about 125,000 different com-
(North Vietnam) and Kasetsomboon(Thai- binations of pairs of teLtire analyseswere then
land) is for normal indochinites;and the match tested by the computer for possiblechemical
of Ooldea (South Australia) and Coco Grove matches. The quantitative criteria used for a
(Luzon) is for the normalaustralite-philippinite match were based on the experimental pre-
type. In Figure 5b the match of Kuchinari cision of determining a given element. The
(Thailand) and Fort Bayard (South China) is mean deviation a between replicate determina-
for normalindochinites;that of West Kalgoorlie tions of that element from a given sample of
(West Australia) and Kubao (Manila) is for teLtire powder was taken as a measure of the
the normal australite-philippinite type, as is precision.For a chemicalmatch it was required
the three-localitymatch of Boyce Creek, Lake that all major elementswith at most one excep-
Lapage,and Earaheedy(all in West Australia). tion be the same within 2a, that the one ex-
Since both Ooldea and Kalgoorlie are from the cepted major element (if any) be the same
Nullabor Plains of Australia.,and both Kubao within _+2a, that all minor elements with at
and Coco. Grove are from Luzon, these two most one exceptionlikewisebe the same within
matches are referred to subsequentlyas the 2a, and that the one exceptedminor element
Nullarbor-Luzon match. Such a match has been (if any) be the same within ___2a.The 2a pre-
observedpreviously [Chapman ei al., 1964]. cisionwas taken as 6,% for Mg, Na, A1; 7% for
In Figure 6 the Nullarbor area is designated Ca, K, Fe; 20% for Ti, Ni, Mn, V; 25% for
by the encircledN, the matchingLuzon area Ba, Co, Cr, Y, Zr; and 30% for B,Cu. The 2•
by an L. Otherlocalitiesof matchingSG poly- precisionfor silicon,which was determinedby

H Ca H Mg
o MT. WILLIAM o SANGIRAN I (492)
(85) ,-1 L. MARGARETA (229)
40 • [] FINNISS / L'• 0 SERPENTINE L. (465)
ta) SPRINGS I-
L
•,u)
•
v BILLITONIS. (155)
A L. WILSON (986)
"- 50 9.,
¾,. ,., 0 MULGARIA
o 20
• .••x SANGIRAN
L.
'n'
(14l)
,.,/ •/./ '• • .y,,.x•.Xx
,/,x.•.
x

NORMAL INDOCH. NORMAL AUST.

90 ) ? o SEAN TO (229) - (d) o GOONGARRIE
(555)
'"" • F•KOUANG
TCH. [] SEVEN MILE HILL
80 H WAN (125) (275)

t 0LYINBARLGOO
70 (912)
60 II ! MEDIUM-HNi NORMAL PHIL.

• 50
• 40
••! xANDA
(206) + PUGAB BABUY (487)

50

20 /li•ißSANTA
MESA
(501)
I0

0
2.40 2.4 5 2.50
, ,
2.40 2.45 2.5O 2.55
SPECIFIC GRAVITY, SG SPECIFIC GRAVITY, SG
Fig. 4. Specific-gravitypopulationpolygonsfor various chemicaltypes: (a) ItCa austra-
lites, (b) ItMg tektites, (c) normal indochinitesand localitieswith medium-highNi, (d)
normal australites and normal philippinites.
6316 DEAN R. CHAPMAN
0 PT. CAMPBELL AREA (127)
[] FLORIETON-MORGAN (187)
important,the elongatezone of a given type
0 PINE DAM (102) is at least several hundred kilometers across.
ß FOGARTY CLAY RAN (70)
Consequently,
onlythoselocalitypairsof chem-
xjPIA OAC
(146) ical matchesseparatedmore than about 1000
/¾ .KASETSOMBOON
lS,BI km would provide relevant evidence on the
4O
'streak paths' within the over-all trajectory
-- 5O landing pattern.
Various examplesof matching analysesas
determinedby the computer searchare pre-
/.1•' •iOOLDEA
•,0•) sented in Table 1. These include matches be-
P coco
.ow tween normal australites and philippihires
(matchesI and 2), betweenDalat type tektites
(match 3), betweennormal indochinites(match
.-BOYCE CK (265) 4, a tri-locality match), betweenHMg tektites
x•L. LAPAGE(1094) (matches5, 6, 7), betweenother lesscommon

8ø
I
'"'EARAHEEDY(63)
types (matches8, 9), and between rare types
(matches10, 11). In Figure 6 the localitypairs
for matching analysesare shown connected
together by dashed lines. It is evident from
thisfigurethat the finestructure,asrepresented
• 40 by theselines of matchingchemistry,is quite
consistentwith the coarse structure (shaded
zones)and with the fine structureof matching
SG polygons(solid lines).
2O
Directional conditionsand relative tempera-
ture o• •ormation. In comparisonto austra-
lites, the internal flow structures of tektites
from Southeast Asia are indicative of forma-
2,35 2.40 2.45 2.50
SPECIFIC GRAVITY, SG tion in a much more viscous condition. Within

Fig. 5. Six sets of matching polygonsof spe- indochinites,the lechaterlieriteinclusionsap-

cific gravity: (a) left to right, matches along pear less softenedand contorted,the internal
LSG-HCa australite streak, North Vietnam-Thai- bubblesare commonlyelongateinsteadof spher-
land match, and Nullarbor Plains-Luzon match; ical as in australites,and minute grainsof un-
(b) left to right, South China-Thailand match,
West Australia-Luzon match, and West Australia
fused minerals are found [Ba.rnes,1963a, b;
matches. Glass,1970]. Moreover,their externalshapes
are larger and much more irregular than aus-
tralites. All these are signsthat the indochinites
differencefrom the total of the other elements, formed at a higherviscositythan the australites.
was taken as 1.5%. In a few caseswhere an Higher viscosity implies lower temperature,
element was uncommonlylow in abundance, a lower internal energyincreaseAE, and a lower
the 2a precisionwas taken as an appropriate particle velocity ¾9 of shockacceleration(AE
increment rather than as a percentage. = (1/2) F•" accordingto the Rankine-Hugoniot
Not all matching analysesidentified by the conservationequationsfor strongshockwaves).
computer, nor all locality pairs at which the The irregularly shaped tektites from South-
SG polygonsmatch, can be considereda sig- east Asia, therefore, were ejected from their
nificant feature of the original showerpattern. crater of origin at a lower velocity than were
Obviously,a match betweentwo localitiesonly the australites. This condition of decreasing
several tens of kilometers apart may reflect ejectionvelocity in the direction from Australia
some geologicaltransport processrather than to Thailand is an important directional condi-
a characteristicof the tektite trajectory land- tion to be imposedon the trajectory landing
ing pattern. Also, locality data for some speci- pattern of the Australasiantektite shower.
mens are uncertain by as much as 50 km. More From study of the geographicalvariation of
 AUSTRALASIAN TEKTITE ORIGIN 6317

tektite shapesand sizeswithin a given chem- and hence of decreasingvelocity of ejection,

ical group, a number of other directional con- runs northwest from Victoria to Henbury.
ditions have been deduced. Within the low-SG Another example is provided by the ItMg
component population along the LSG-HCa javanitesand australites.The billitonites,aver-
streak, for example, the average size o.f sub- aging 19 grams,and the javahires (SangiranI
stantially whole tektites (all but the broken with 2.38 < SG < 2..48) are considerably
ones) increasessystematicallyin the northwest larger and more irregularly shaped than the
direction, varying from about 2 grams in Vic- ItMg australitesof similar SG range.This indi-
toria to. 2.6 gramsat Florieton, 4 grams in the cates a decreasingvelocity of ejection in the
area of Mulgaria-Witchelina-Pine Dam, about direction running NNW from the ItMg area in
6 grams at Charlotte Waters, and about 10 Australia to Sangiran in Java. Still another
gramsat Henbury. Also.,100'%of the coresin example of a directional conditionis provided
Victoria have a smoothlycurved base.,whereas by the, indochinitcsat Pia Oac in North Viet-
about 1/3 of the coresat Charlotte.Waters have nam and at Kuchinari in northeast Thailand,
basesthat are irregularly curved. Clearly, the which have matchingSG polygons:the Pia Oac
direction of increasingviscosity of formation, tektites average about 30 grams versusabout

i • i I'": •h', '.•

SGPOLYGON
UNIQUE
MATCH
CHEMICAL

MATCH
Fig. 6. Fine structure distribution pattern of Australasian tektites as determined by match-
ing chemical analysesand matching polygons of specificgravity.
6318 D•A• R. C•Ar•N

TABLE 1. Examplesof MatchingChemicalAnalyses

(Oxidesin weightper cent,elementsin partsper million.)

Match 1 Match 2 Match 3 •atch h Match 5 Match

P420 AN58 AN315 P314M I125 SCN22 T241' T254 Ill0 AN59 J83 AN226 BN5
Bato- 27 mi. N. Suoi Mouang Surat Ban Pia Giles Sangi- Ser- Billiron
balani so. of Yandal Kubau Vang, Tcheou Thani Kok Oac Creek ran pentine Is.
C. Grove Cook Dalat ],•an Sun Java Lake

SG 2.435+ 2.445+ 2.455 2.410+ 2.425+ 2.420+ 2.400+ 2.426 2.445+ 2.467 2.477 2.486
RI 1.509 1.516 1.515 1.513 1.504 1.507 1.507 1.50o 1.503 1.515 1.518 1.516 1.519
Si02 72.5 72.1 70.7 71.6 74.2 73.3 73 1 73.4 72.6 73.0 72.1 70.5 71.0
A1203 12.8 12.9 13.4 13.0 12.0 12.5 13 3 13.1 13.8 11.2 11.9 12.4 11.7
FeO 4.52 4.71 4.96 4.55 4.77 h.89 4 66 4.56 h.60 5.50 5.65 5.66 6.04
Mg0 2.15 2.15 2.30 2.42 2.22 2.35 2 00 1.97 1.99 3.•2 3.48 3.42 3.61
CaO 2.71 2.89 3.36 3.31 1.94 2.02 2 22 2.18 2.37 2.82 2.71 3.21 3.16
Na20 1.54 1.50 1.58 1.50 1.31 1.36 1 23 1.31 1.17 1.08 1.07 1.42 1.30
K20 2.61 2.53 2.54 2.47 2.47 2.45 2 36 2.39 2.39 2.00 2.03 2.25 2.12
Ti02 .75 .82 .73 .78 .72 .75 76 .67 .73 .61 .68 .78 .67
B 19 20 22 39 31 27 11 13 18 22 20 23 28
Ba 440 430 440 400 350 3•0 395 445 380 315 400 360 380
Co 12 14 16 13 18 20 11 11 12 33 33 37 36
Cr 78 100 92 105 120 130 58 61 56 265 240 225 280
Cu 4 5 6 8 5 • ~h ~4 ~4 5 5 5 6
Mn 800 780 700 670 800 920 735 740 880 760 790 825 830
Ni 27 29 31 35 100 110 16 15 15 250 290 295 370
V 89 89 87 87 65 71 63 63 65 65 73 66 70
Y 33 30 27 32 26 28 30 27 29 26 32 29 27
Zr 240 270 280 270 280 280 300 300 280 245 280 280 280
Match 7 •4atch 8 ratch 9 •atch 10 Match 11

AN122 J71 NAIl T237 •YN1 AN• AN258 AN254 AN198 •192 J59
near Sangi- Natuna Ban Batu •ort- E. of Mount Alton P•suquin Sangi-
Young ran Is. Mae Gaj ah lake Div. Darwin Downs Luzon ran
Range Java Jong •alay Bluff Tas. Java

SG 2.455+ 2.457 2.455 2.•45+ 2.242 2.375+ 2.380+ 2.390+ 2.385 2.507 2.511
RI 1,514 1.515 1.512 1.511 1.511 1.496 1.297 1.500 1.497 1.525 1.527
Si0• 71.7 72.0 71.9 72.7 72.9 78.1 77.9 76.8 76.8 69.4 69.6
A120 B 12.5 12.0 12.2 12.5 12.3 10.5 10.• 11.6 tl.7 ]2.3 12.2
FeO 5 20 5.32 5.41 2.85 •.7• 3.69 3.90 3.97 3.92 6.70 6.94
Mg0 2 99 3.19 3.04 2.41 2.59 1.26 1.52 1.59 1.53 5.01 5.06
Ca0 2 8• 2.85 2.54 2.79 2.73 2.01 2.08 1.75 1.72 2.78 2.72
Na20 1 36 1.31 1.•0 1.33 1.28 1.t0 1.16 1.04 1.07 .88 .75
•20 2 34 2.26 2.42 2.31 2.29 2.22 2.16 2.12 2.18 1.75 1.67
Ti02 72 .68 .68 .75 .73 .48 .5• .73 .66 .76 .68

B 28 34 44 19 20 16 22 20 26 25 16
Ba 380 370 400 4•0 395 •10 360 bOO •25 400 490
Co 31 26 27 18 23 8 10 9 10 •1 •0
Cr 210 210 195 •20 140 54 59 76 59 310 300
Cu 5 5 6 5 4 5 • ~4 •4 4 4
Mn 840 840 805 830 900 610 610 680 680 990 900
Ni 230 200 215 120 165 16 17 2• 20 325 300
V 73 64 80 76 69 •6 5• 46 45 6• 63
Y 26 24 30 29 29 31 28 27 2• 2• 27
Zr 260 260 290 310 305 350 290 310 320 31• 265

19 gramsin northeast
Thailand.
In thiscase amined, thelargest
weighed6.1grams,whereas
thedirection
of decreasing
velocity
of ejection all the restweighedlessthan2.6 grams.In
(increasing
size)runsnortheast.
At threedif- contrast, thetektitewitha matchinganalysis
ferentlocalities
in northernLuzonwheretek- in northernLuzon (P192,match11 in Table
tites of intermediateNi contentare found (42 1) weighs8.3 grams.Hencethis inferreddirec-
ppm _• Ni _• 53 ppm),the average weightis tionof decreasingejection
velocity
is fromJava
between6 and 14 grams,whereasit is a little NNE to the Philippines.
lessthan 6 gramsat Busuanga in the south- Compositedistributionpattern. Assembled
westPhilippines.In this casethe inferreddi- in Figure7 is a composite mapshowing the
rectionof decreasing
ejectionvelocityis NNE. localities
of microtektires,
the zonesof various
The Sangiran II tektitesof highSG average chemical type,the linesof finestructure,
and
lessthan I gm weight; and, among 141 ex- arrowsindicatingthe directionalconditionof
 AUSTRALASIANTEKTITE ORIGIN 6319

decreasingejection velocity (V•). This map
summarizesthe principal elementsknown about
the earth landing pattern of the Australasian
tektite shower. That the pattern is nonradial,
without a center of emanation,is evidencethat
the showerwas not of terrestrial origin. In es-
sence,Figure 7 provides a rough Rosetta stone
for deducingfrom which lunar crater the tek-
tites came.
I)ETERMINATION OF ORIGIN
The method used to determine which
crater could have distributed ejecta on earth
in the particular pattern of the tektites is the
time-honored method of trial and error.
dencethat the sourcecrater was both large and
geologicallyyoung greatly limits the number of
trial craters; the fact that the moon presents
substantially the same face toward earth
greatly limits the variety of distributionpat-
terns for a given crater. For each trial crater,
a determination was made first of the azimuthal
headingdirection8 (measuredin degreesnorth
of lunar east) required to launch material to-
ward earth, then of the elevational angle •
(measuredfrom the local lunar zenith) required
to hit the Australasian part of the globe. Nu-
merous moon-to-earth trajectories were com-
puted for a 2ø spreadin both 8 and fi, and for
the complete range of lunar ejection velocity
V• that sendsmaterial directly to earth. These
computedpatterns and the tektite distribution
pattern were then compared.
The computer program used in the present
calculations of moon-to-earth trajectories is a
lunar muchrefinedversionof a programusedearlier
[Chapman, 1964]. In this previous work the
lunar equator and the lunar orbit plane were
Evi- assumed to coincide with the ecliptic plane,
and the lunar orbit was taken to be circular.
The present program takes into account the
5o9' mean inclination of the lunar orbit plane
to the ecliptic, the lø32' angle between the
lunar equator and the ecliptic, the elliptical
orbit of the moon, and the librationsin latitude
and longitude as prescribed by the laws of
Cassini. It also takes into account the regres-
sion of nodes,the advanceof apsides,as well as

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OFINCREASING VISCOSITY
OF FORMATION
--.)• (DECREASING
VELOCITY
OFEJECTION)

Fig. 7. Australasian tektite distribution pattern: Microtekrite distribution and principal

features of distribution pattern for land tektites.
6320 D• R. C•r•

perturbationsof the sun accordingto an ap- lustratedhereinis the one judgedas coming
proximatetheory worked out by Dr. William closestto meeting the basic requirementof
Mersman.In order to obtain a checkon ac- spreadingejectaacrossat leastthe 74ø range
curacy,seventest caseswere run both on the in earth latitude (from 46øS to 28øN) pres-
present program and on the Apollo program entIy known for Australasiantektites. Among
of the Real Time Computer Complex at the the many trial cratersthat failed to match the
Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston. The tektite strewnfieldpattern, only a few will be
agreementin all caseswas satisfactory. mentioned. Throughout the illustrations, the
As was noted above, a 2ø spread in both directionof decreasinglunar ejectionvelocity
azimuth (3) and zenith (fi) angle at lunar V• is indicatedon the earth trail lines by an
ejectionwas usedfor most calculations.An azi- arrow. Each trail line representsconstantval-
muthal dispersion A3 -- 2ø was selectedfrom uesof 3 and fi, and variablevaluesof V• rang-
observations of the width of lunar rays. Most ing over the full spectrumfrom the highest
rays are less than 2ø wide. An equal eleva- down to the lowestvelocity that will land ma-
ttonal dispersionAft -- 2ø was selectedpartly terial on earth.
on the basisof a theoretical
interpretation (de- Landingpatternsfor threetrial cratersare
scribedlater in this paper)of the mechanismshownin Figure 8. Strabo,situatedin the
by whichlunarray elements are ejectedfrom northernhemisphereof the moon'snearside,
their parentcrater.The laboratory impactex- meetsthe requirement of spreading material
perimentsof Gault et al. [1962] wouldsug- overa 74ø latituderange,but is incompatible
gestthat a valuesomewhat largerthanAft -- with the tektitestreakpattern,and with the
2ø mightbe moreappropriate. For the rela- directional
requirementof V• decreasingnorth-
tively narrowrangein velocityof 2.5 to 2.9 ward (Figure8a). Straboclearlyprovides no
km/sec, which representsthe velocity range match for the tektite distribution.Anotherex-
for 90% of thematerialthat canhit the earth ampleof a trial craterthat failed,asFigure8b
from the moon,theselaboratoryexperiments shows,is one situatedon the moon'sfar side
wouldsuggest valuesfor Aft up to about3ø or (latitude 10øN, longitude118øE). As V• de-
4ø. Consequently,
in orderto investigatewhat creases, materialfrom this craterwouldsweep
effect a greater elevational dispersion would eastward. Other craters on the far side are
have, some landing patterns were computed similarly incompatiblebecauseof their gen-
for Aft -- 4ø (these are illustratedlater). In erally eastwardtrails on earth. Still another
order to investigatewhat effect a smallerdis- exampleof a crater that failed is Copernicus
persionwould have, such as is observedfor (Figure 8c). In this casethe latitudespreadis
someray elements,landingpatternswere com- comparableto that of the Australasianstrewn-
puted for a dispersionAft -- A3 -- 1ø (also field, but the loopedpattern doesnot match
illustrated later). that of the tektites.
The earth distributionpatternsfor eachtrial It would be pointlessto documentfurther
crater were found to depend chiefly on the various trial craters that failed. Six years ago,
lunar celestiallongitude at the time of lunar when relatively little was known about the
ejection. Only weak dependencewas found on earth landingpattern of the tektites, a number
such parameters as libration angles, sun po- of moon-to-earthtrajectorieswere investigated
sition, and the moon's position relative to for 10 large, young,lunar craters.It was found
perigee. Increments in lunar longitude were that of theseonly Tycho was so situatedas to
taken small enoughto safely interpolate be- be able both to spreadejecta generallynorth-
tween computed patterns. No two patterns ward as V• decreased,and to spread it over
were the samefor differentcraters.Thus each the requiredlatitude range [Chapman,1964].
crater can be characterizedby a unique set Two years ago,whenthe presentchemicaldata
of earth landing patterns, analogousto a set were partially complete,Tycho still appeared
•t' fingerprints,any one of which may serve to be the prima susp•at, [Chapman, 1968].
for the purposeof identification. With many detailsof the landingpatternnow
From the family of trajectory landing pat- delineated,this prime suspectcan be put to a
terns for a given crater, the only pattern il- severetest.
 AUSTRALASIANTEKTITE ORIGIN 6321

tern; the line of chemicalmatch between Tas-

mania (Mount Darwin) and Central Australia
(Alton Downs) virtually coincideswith trail
4; the nearly northern streak in Western
Australia, of normal australiteswith matching
polygons of specific gravity, conforms with a
trail interpolated between trails 8 and 9; the
curved crescentzone of the HMg tektites is
compatible with the curvature and positions
of trails I and 5; the various streak lines of
chemicalmatcheswithin the HMg zone are
also either in reasonableor in very closeagree-
ment with trails i and 5; the northeasterly
MOON'S
FAR
SIDE
JJI •:I40
I I: • •: streak lines across Southeast Asia are com-
'CRATER
ON
•:]'•
(b) (
ø+Iø••' B:
188
,
ø+Iø patible with trails 2, 5, and 9; the nearly north
streak from Malaya to West Thailand is parallel
to, and just west of, trail 9 (interpolate be-
tween trails 9 and 6); the Nullarbor Plains
match with normal philippinitesin Luzon (N
to L in Figure 9) falls along trail 1; and the
various directionalconditionsfor decreasing¾•,
.......... as designatedby arrows, conform with the
I Tycho pattern at all areas of the strewnfield
for which these conditions have been deduced
from the tektite data. The chance that these
many coincidencesare merely accidental would
representan improbability of epic proportions.
This, however, is not the total evidence.As
is noted in the upper fight of Figure 9, the
matching pattern representsmaterial ejected
from Tycho in one particular heading direc-
tion, namely, 3 near E 19øN; and at one zenith
angle, namely, fi near 52ø. A zenith angle of
fi = 52ø, corresponding to ejecta leaving 38ø
from the lunar horizontal, is indeed a very
reasonable angle for hypervelocity impact
ejecta. A more crucial test, however,is whether
Fig. 8. Three representative examples of earth or not a ray from Tycho was shot in the par-
landing patterns for craters that failed to match ticular heading direction of 3 = 19ø. In Fig-
the observed tektite distribution pattern.
ure 10 the great-circledirectionrepresentedby
3 = 19ø is designatedby a short white line
Figure 9 illustratesan earth landingpattern extending about three crater diameters from
for ejecta from Tycho. This pattern, for which Tycho, and by the large arrow representingits
the lunar longitudeat the time of ejectionwas continuation near the eastern limb of the moon.
267ø, conforms with the tektite distribution The heading E19øN from Tycho is seen to
pattern in all essential details. The over-all coincide,in fact, with one of the most promi-
longitude spread of tektites from near Mada- nent rays of Tycho, the 'Rosse ray,' which
gascarto south of Japan, as well as the corre- streams across the Sea of Mare Nectaris over
spondingspreadin latitude, is compatiblewith the small crater Rosse in this sea. That the
the Tycho pattern; the northwesterly streak Australasian tektites came from the Rosse ray
across Australia of the YiCa australites is of Tycho is, in this writer's view, an inescap-
closelyoriented with trail 4 of the Tycho pat- able conclusion.
6322 DEAN •P•.CI-IAPlVIAN

r
' ø+ol -d':, 9ø

............. , .... •_• _• ,•--• .

/

•. 9. M•tch• of earth ]a•d• pattern from Tycho •hh observed tekfite

pattern.

CONNATECRATER THEORYOF wise, rocks of moldavite compositionhave not

TEKTITE EVENTS been found at Ries. More devastating to the
Certainevidence
fromtektitegroups
other ideaof a terrestrialoriginfor Ivory Coast
than Australasianhas led someto the con- tektitesis the recentdiscoveryof Ivory Coast
clusion
thattektites
originate
fromearthrather microtekrites
in deep-sea
sediments
about1300
than mooncraters.Currentage data from km fromBosumtwi [Glass,
1968,1969].This
both K-Ar and fission-track
methodsindicate distanceis much too short to have produced
that two craterson earthmayhaveformed any ablation droplets
of tektiteglass,
yet is
simultaneously
with two tektiteshowers:
the muchtoofar fortheseobjects (thelargest
are
Riescraterin Germany simultaneously
with nearly1 mmin size)to havetraveled through
theCzechoslovakian
tektites
about15m.y.ago, the earth'satmosphere
eitherby windsor by
and the Bosumtwicrater in Ghana simulta- ballistictrajectories;and Bosumtwicrater is
neouslywiththe Ivory Coasttektitesabout muchtoosmallto havetemporarily
removed
1 m.y.ago[Gentnet et al., 1964,1967,1970; theearth's
atmosphere.
Fleischeret al., 1965].It is to be noted,how- Still a differentinterpretation
is that large,
ever,thatsuchan inferenceof a terrestrialori- crater-formingobjectsimpactedthe earth
ginfor thesetektites,whichconflicts withthe simultaneouslywith the tektites.This broad
aerodynamic andtrajectoryevidence of a lunar possibility
wasnoted,thoughwithoutelabora-
originfor the Australasian
tektites,is not the tion,by Fleischer
et al. [1965].A specific
mode]
only possible inference
whichcan be drawn advocated by yonKoe•igswald [1967]pictures
fromtheagedata. both the earth and moonas havingsimulta-
It mightbe thought,for example, that the neously encountered a swarmof largemeteor-
moldavites and Ivory Coasttektitesare from ites,someof whichstruckthe moonand cre-
the earth,whilethe Australasianitesare from atedtektitesthat later landedon earth,while
the moon.But, so extraordinary
are the simi- othersstruckthe earthand formedcontempo-
laritiesin physical
makeup
of all tektitesthat raneous
cratersaccidently
near the tektites.
this compromise interpretationseemsunten- An alternatemodelcompatible with bothage
able. Also, rocks having the samemajor and and aerodynamicdata is advancedherein. A
minor elementcomposition as Ivory Coasttek- tektite event is envisionedas originatingfrom
tites have not been found at Bosumtwi; like- a burst of composite ejecta spewn from a
 AUSTRALASIAN TEKTITE ORIGIN 6323

meteoritic impact on the moon, ejecta com- tektites, and the size of Bosumtwi and •Ries
prising myriads of tektites together with one craters, appear compatiblewith the connate
or more large fragments of the original me- crater idea.
teoritic projectile. When this ejecta melange In essence,the concept of connate craters
lands on earth, each large fragment would inverts an apparently obviousassociation:it
excavatea terrestrial crater 'connate'with, but implies strangelythat tektites are not on earth
not a parent of, the tektites. At first it would becausecertain large craters of identical age
seemdifficultto explain by this hypothesishow are, but vice versa. Past examplesof inversion
objects as large as those that excavatedthe theories,which twist around seeminglyevident
Ries and the Bosumtwicraterscouldbe thrown causal associations, sometimeshave succeeded
as fragmentsfrom a lunar crater. Around Ari- eminently.The sun'sapparent revolutiondaily
zona crater, iron meteorite fragments were around the earth, for example,is explainedby
found weighingof order 10-' of the estimated the earth revolving,rather than the sun. The
mass of the original impacting meteorite. In apparent creation of swarms of infusoria and
order to form earth craters the size of Bo- bacteria seeminglyout of nowherefrom decay-
sumtwi and Ries from a meteoritic fragment ing matter is also explainedby an inversion:
of mass 10-' of that which struck the moon, by bacterial life causing decay, rather than
the lunar-impacting meteorite would have to decay creating life. Analogously,the present
be of suchsize as would excavatea lunar crater theory of tektite events associating a large
roughly 50 to 100 km across. Consequently, entity causatively with a multitude of tiny
tektite events forming connate earth craters objectsattributes the existenceof the large to
the size of Bosumtwi or Ries can come only the associatedswarm of small forms, rather
from large lunar craters, and therefore can than the other way around.
occur only infrequently.Thus the 14 m.y. sep- A connate crater model for tektite events is
arating Ivory Coast and Czechoslovakian constructedherein on the basis of a certain

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.•-.

•2•?•!•...•'"';
;.•.•.•: . '•.........
'. '.'•-.•.•.•%...
....... ':•L
?' D•NECTtON
oF NAY

.•:• .•.,
./.•;..•::....
'•-.
....
.,.-......•:.....,.
'.:...•,•:•.
•.:.,)•.•:
ORIGINATING
FROM TYCHO AT EI9øN
%.'•i.;:•
.--?,.•
......
:?. .•.-.•--...
'-- ..•:....................
...;•:...
":•:..½;•:. - ..-'•:!:::-
'-"-.'
..' . .....
..... . t). .•
.. '..... z.

:•7
•A:.'•:•;"':':-,•/
." ' .- '• :,'-• - 2;

ß .....

Fig. 10. Source crater and ray of Australasian tektite origin.

6324

interpretation of the visible structure of lunar
rays. Telescopeobservationsreveal that a lunar
ray is not continuous,but is generally com-
posed of a series of many elongate 'ray ele-
ments' [Pickering, 1892; Kuiper, 1965], each
closely aligned with the main ray. These ele-
ments commonly resemble an exclamation
mark (!), the linear streak appearingto spray
radially outward from either a 'craterlet' or a
cluster of craterlets.These craterlets are clearly
secondarycraters made by ejecta from the
large primary crater. Near the primary crater,
ray elements are superimposedso densely
upon one another that a ray there appears
virtually continuous.Farther out the ray ele-
ments becomeclearly separated.Figure 11 il-
lustrates two such elements: one, comprising
the craterlet Rosse and its associated'spray,'
is part of the prominentray from Tycho that
is associatedherein with Australasian tektites;
the other, comprisingMessierA crater and its
associatedspray, is possiblypart of a ray sys-
tem from a crater situated on the moon's far
side. Whitaker [1965] states that the Messier
spray is preciselyradial to an unnamedray
centerphotographedby Lunik 3 on the back
side of the moon. Billerbeck-Gentz [1943] has
emphasized that the Rosseray elementappears The large objects that trail a ray element
ele- upon ejection from a primary crater must be
to be just one of four mutuallyassociated
ments alignednearly end to end. An adapta- either blocksof lunar crust or fragmentsof the
tion of his sketch is presentedin Figure 12.
The scale can be iudged from the diameter of
Rosse (-,13 kin) and the visible length of its
associatedspray (-,220 km). These four ray
elements are interpreted herein as the result
of four large objectsof crater-formingsize be-
ing hurled from Tycho in nearly the sameazi-
muthal direction, shock-acceleratedand shock-
heated crust being sprayed around and ahead
of eachobject as it left Tycho.
The 'craterlet'Rosseis itself a large crater.
Its size, 13 km in diameter, implies that ray
elementscan include very large objects.Situ-
ated approximately1450 km from Tycho, it
would have been excavatedby a secondaryob-
ject impacting at about 1.3 km/sec. If that
same object were hurled to earth, however,it
would impact at 11 km/sec, a much greater
velocity,becauseof the earth'sgravitationalat-
traction. Accordingto crater scalinglaws, an
earth impact of the Rosse object would ex-
cavate a terrestrial crater of diameterapproxi-
mately 30 km. Thus, earth craters as large as
Ries (24 km), or Bosumtwi (11 km), appear
well within the possiblesize realm for craters
originating as connatesto a tektite strewnfield
of lunar origin.

..':.: .':-:'::: ..•.:.:.,:

.:..•.....:-:...

•i.:•!• ":::::!:i '"':':':-"•;"•"'•'"'"•;i!

DIRECTION
FROM
............RAY CENTER ON
....
::;::• ....
::i•:.-
:•:. ::--.'-...::
.-......
'i:%
• ,:.•..-..,'::..•.•....: :':.'i!:
MOON'S
•..i:::;:.:.:•. •:.: FAR
SIDE
..... '";:
.... . •.2:.•:•.

•::;•; .:..
::'........-:.'.
:'•.'::•:.:.-'•
?• ....
:•}•
.:??t .......
: -•
'" .
.

....
::...
.. :•-•:'•:
::: •..:•::.•

ROSSE
??• '

DIRECTION FROM
TYCHO

Fig. 11. Lunar ray elements Rosse and Messier.

 AUSTBALASIAN
BILLERBECK-GENTZ SKETCH
DIRECTION FROM
Fig. 12. Four nearly linearly aligned ray elementsalong Rosseray of Tycho.
original cosmicprojectile. Around the Arizona
crater, largesandstoneblocksare observedonly
relativelynear the crater,not far out. The frag-
mentsof iron meteorite,in contrast,are observed
out to much greater distances(-•7 km) suchas
would imply, according to the equations of
ballisticflight in the earth'satmosphere, a ve-
locity of ejection of several kilometersper
second (a velocity sufficient to escape the
moon). A large projectile fragment can be
ejectedfrom a craterwith greatervelocitythan
a large crustal block, since a block of target
crust must be accelerated from rest to
launch velocity, whereasa fragment of pro-
jectile need only be redirected,particularly in
an obliqueimpact. Tycho appearsto have been
an obliqueimpact: its asymmetricsplashpat-
tern indicates an approach of the impacting
body along virtually the same direction as
that of the Rosse ray which containsthe four
large secondarycraters.For these reasons,the
large objectshurled as the trailing part of a
ray element to great distancesfrom their par-
ent crater are not regardedas blocksof target
material, but as fragmentsof the original me-
teoritic projectile.
The conceptof a 'cometaw' impact of under-
dense material appears to be hopelessin ac-
countingfor the survival and ejectionto great
distanceof large projectilefragments.At come-
tary velocities,typically 20 to 40 km/sec, the
impact pressureis so high (~30 rob) and the
projectiletemperaturerise due to shockheat-
TEKTITE OBIGIN 6325
TYCHO
ing is so great (-•10' øC), that the comet-head
projectile would be vaporized, and therefore
incapableof survival and ejection in the form
of large solid fragments.
In contradistinction,sizable projectile frag-
ments can be expectedto survive a lunar im-
pact of an iron masscomingfrom an asteroidal
orbit. Statistically, objects from such orbits
would impact the moon at relatively low ve-
locity, a little over half in the range 3 to 7
km/sec, accordingto the calculationsof Arnold
[1965]. At 7 km/sec, the peak shockpressure
its would be about I mb [Gault and Heitowit,
1963; Braslau, 1970], at which pressure the
residual temperature rise in iron would be
about 650øC [McQueen et al., 1962]. Since
this is much less than the 1500øC melting
temperature of iron, the fate of such an im-
pacting iron projectilewould be mainly frag-
mentation. Relatively little melting, and negli-
gible vaporization,would occur.
That very large fragments can survive im-
pact and be ejected far from their lunar crater
is thus plausiblefor impacts of asteroidaliron.
Meteoritic Fe-Ni inclusions have been found
within Australasiantektites, within Ries glass,
and within Bosumtwi glass.Consequently,the
presentmodel for tektite origin from lunar im-
pact craters,suchas Tycho, postulatesan orig-
inal cosmicprojectilethat was relatively strong
and incompressible,probably iron or mainly
iron, and that came from a relatively low-ve-
locity orbit of asteroidaltype.
6326 DEAN R. C•APMAN

It is envisioned that in forming ray ejecta any conclusion.It is to be rememberedthat

the elevational angular spread (Aft), within
the spray of a ray element,and the azimuthal
angular spread (AS), would be roughly the
same. At the instant just after the impacting
meteorite penetratesbelow the surface, when
it has fra•oanentedand begun to spread out
radially, it is dear that the crustal movement
cannot be perfectly symmetric.As large blocks
of lunar crust begin to fracture, and to move
outward, gaps between these crustal blocks
will first appear at a discretenumber of places
around the embryo crater. It is hypothesized
that a ray forms when the melangeof frag-
mented meteorite and fused crust under high
pressuresquirtsout throughsuchgaps.During
this squirting acceleration,fused crust of den-
sity 3 g/era8 is more mobile than iron frag-
ments of density8 g/era8, and thus will tend to
move around each fragment and spray ahead.
This processis suggestedas a possiblemech-
A8 = 2ø representsa dispersionbroaderthan
the observedwidth of most lunar rays.
An important feature of the presentmodal
is that tektite events can be of more than one
type: a 'complete'event if both a large mete-
orite fragment and most of its associated
spray
lands on earth; an 'incomplete'event if part
of the spray lands while the large fragment
missesthe earth; a 'truncated' event if the
fragmenttogetherwith only a smallportionof
spray lands on earth while the major portion
of spraymissesand travelsoff into space;and
a 'compound'event if two or more fragments
with their associatedsprays land on earth.
Thus a tektite event, if compound,may involve
two or more eonnate craters on earth; if in-
complete, no connate crater; if truncated,
tektites may land on earth in only a very re-
strieted geographicalarea near their connate
crater.

anism of forming ray elements.Since, on the A number of significantobservationsabout

average,suchfragmentswouldbe about as high tektites have long required explanation.From
as wide, A• would averageabout the same as the present theory of tektite events,and from
AS. the moon-to-earth trajectory computations,ex-
Figure 13 illustratesthe degreeto which a planationscan now be given as to why tektites
departure from the approximationAft = A8 are not spread all over earth, why the molda-
couldaffect the Tycho pattern. The earth land- vites and Ivory Coast tektites are not found all
ing domain for Aft -- 4ø (fi = 50ø to 54ø) around their eonnate earth craters, and how it
is seen to be only slightly greater than for is possiblefor very restricted tektite distribu-
Aft = 2ø, and not differentenoughto affect tions, such as the moldavites,to be compatible

•,,2• •y '• LANDINGAREAFOR•-i-•C'.?:."..'.:• .

•D •.•. :4o A8=2ø
[._.':..'••• • .::....•..............
:

/,

/tft••I/ I, I,V./1/tlz

[.t /t'/, t/:/i /t/t'/•//•t/ X/ /, Ft//Jt, t,"?

//U// •=•
Viii//, •=• t/ l/Jl/
l,•t./t/•••

Fig. 13. Areal extensionof Tycho landing pattern for zXB-- 4ø comparedto A/• -- 2ø.
 AUSTRALASIANTEKTITE ORIGIN 6327

with a lunar origin.From somerecentexperi- [1970] has pointed out the close similarity in
ments, an explanationalso can be given as tomajor elementsbetweenthe preliminary analy-
why tektitesare mainly acidicand not basic. sis of 12013 and the HMg Javanites of high
These and some other explanationspertinent SG (e.g., J86, J87). In Table 2 this compari-
to tektite originare presentedin Appendix3. son is amplified to include minor elements,
some more recent analyses of 12013, and an
EVIDENCE FROM APOLLOI{OCKS I{ELEVANT
additional tektite analysis (J2). The abun-
TO TEKTITES
dances of 20 out of 23 elements in 12013 fall
Direct information about lunar rocks is lim- in the tektite range (all but Ba, Y, Zr); and
ited as of this writing to the samplesreturned the abundances of the majority of elements
from Apollo11 and 12 landings,both in maria are dosely the same as the tektite values.
areas. Since three-fourths of the lunar surface The over-all compositioncomparisonbetween
is coveredby uplands,as yet unexplored,our 12013 and the tektites is not sufficiently close
presentknowledge aboutlunar rocksmustbe or completeto constitutein itselfstrongevidence
far from complete.Althoughthe Australasian that tektites come from the moon. Rare earth
tektites are concludedto originatefrom an up- elements in 12013, for example, exhibit a
land area, whereastheseApollolandingswere distinctivetrend [Schnetzleret al., 1970; Hub-
in maria, several observations pertinent to bard e• al., 1970] not found in tektites. In par-
tektites have emerged from the Apollo data. tieular, Eu showsa pronounceddeficiencyrela-
First, glassin great abundancehas beenfound tive to the other rare earth elements. Lunar
in the mare soil. Much of this glassis of the anorthosites, in contrast, show a comparably
size and form of microtekrites. Since the mare pronounced Eu excess [Wakita and Schmit•,
glass yields unmistakableevidenceof impact 1970b]. Thus it appearspossiblethat still other
origin [Chao et al., 1970; Frederikssonet al., lunar rocks may exhibit the intermediate case
1970; yon Engelhardt et al., 1970], we now of a Eu abundance more like that found in
have direct evidencethat impactshave splashed tektites.
large quantitiesof glassover the lunar surface. Further differencesbetweenthe chemistryof
Undoubtedly some glass has splashedbeyond tektites and that of the lunar rocks returned
the moon'sweak gravitation, and hence there thus far are found in the oxygenisotopesratio
can be no reasonabledoubt that lunar impact [Taylor and Epstein, 1970] and in the pattern
glasshaslongbeenhereon earth. of lead isotopes.Since isotope ratios can be
Second,one of the samplesfrom Apollo 12, affectedby chemicaland thermal fractionation
rock 12013,has a compositionremarkablysimi- processes,they may be different for material
lar in most respectsto that of sometektites. that comesfrom distant upland areas, such as
This rock exhibits a light and a dark com- the environs of Tycho, that are far from the
ponent. The light part contains up to 71% mare areas explored thus far. In most lunar
SiO2[Morgan and Ehmann, 1970] and is atypi- samplesstudied to date, lead is highly radio-
cal of the main mass of baaltic rocks returned genic,althoughthe measurements by Andersen
from the lunar maria. It may be an acidic dif- e• al. [1970] on lunar ilmenite reported lead
ferentiate of mare-like basalts [Albee et al., isotoperatios similar to commonterrestrial lead.
1970; Laul et al., 1970; Wakita and Schmitt, The Pb isotope pattern reported in several
1970a]. Although termed 'granitic' [Albee et tektites is similar to terrestrial lead, but in at
al., 1970], the abundances of Co, Cr, and Ni in least one tektite is distinctly different [Starik
12013 are strikingly differentfrom earth gran- et al., 1962]. Thus far the amountof leadisotope
ites (10 to 100 times higher); water and ferric
data availableon tektites,as well as the variety
iron are lacking; and MgO and CaO are com- and number of sites sampledon the moon, are
paratively high. Also, K20 is considerably consideredtoo meager to firmly excludeeither
higher than Na20 in 12013,whereasthe sum a terrestrial or a lunar origin for tektites.
Na20 + K•O is significantlylowerthan in typi- The over-all comparisonbetween 12013 and
cal earth granites. These unusual character- HMg tektites appears sufficiently close to be
isticsare preciselythosethat longhavetypified of some significance.The HMg tektite group
tektites, particularly the HMg type. O'Keefe is a very distinct and well-defined chemical
6328 D• R. C•Ar•A•

TABLE 2. CompositionCornpart.son between Apollo 12 Rock 12013 and Tektites

(Oxide in weight per cent, elementsin parts per million.)

Apollo
12Rock12013 Ii'MgTektites
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

SiO• 61 61 64 71 64.5 65 66
Al•O• 12 11 12 11 13 13 13
FeO 10 12 9.6 9.6 8.6 7.9 8.0
MgO 6.0 8.0 6.5 6.8
CaO* 6.3 5.2 6.4 3.9 2.9 3.7 3.3
Na•.O 0.69 1.16 1.36 1.25 0.72 0.77 0.75
K•.O* 2.0 2.0 2.1 3.6 1.34 1.56 1.44
TiO• 1.2 1.3 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.8
NInO 0.12 0.16 0.14 0.12 0.18 0.13 0.14
B 15 11 21 21
Ba• 2150 2720 2750 3900 410 345 425
Co 13 35 20 28 56 48 52
Cry: 1050 1770 1160 980 440 370 400
Ga 6 6 6 3
La 50 60 59 60
Ni 105 230 245 250
Pb* 30 •10
Rb 33 50 49 99 66
Sr 150 175 171
Sc 21 28 22 20 16 16
V 13 80 100 70 80 75 80
Yi 240 32 35 34
Zri 2200 230 310 275

(1) Lunar Sample Preliminary Examination Team [1970].

(2) Fragment 37 q- 24 from 12013; Wakita and Schmitt[1970],Si from Morgan and Ehmann [1970]; Ga
and Rb from Laul et al. [1970].
(3) Fragment 18 from 12013; ibid.
(4) Fragment 41 from 12013; ibid.
(5) Javanite J86, chemicaldata from USGS (M. Carron and C. Annell).
(6) Javanite J2, Chapmanand Scheiber[1969].
(7) Javanite J87, unpublisheddata of Chapman and Scheiber.
* Apollo 12013 values conform closelywith correspondingvalues for Australasian tektites other than
J87, J86, J2.
l Apollo 12013 values not within factor of 2 of other tektites.
;• Apollo 12013 values within factor of 2 of other tektites.

family exhibiting clearly the classicaltrends of
an igneousdifferentiationsequence:analysesof
this group [Chapman and Scheiber, 1969]
show that as Si increases,Mg, Ca, Cr, Ni, Co,
and Ni/Co decrease; Na, K, Sr/Ca, and
Rb/Sr increase; Co-Mg and Co-Fe retain close
coherence;Fc/(Fc q- Mg) and normarive py-
foxone and Na/(Na q- Ca) in normatire pIa-
gioclaseboth increase; and the trends on an
FMAlk ternary diagram conform to those of
classicalcrystal fractionation. Yet the ItMg
tektite chemistry is clearly not that of earth
igneousrock chemistry,and it is not that pro-
duced by vapor fractionation. For these rea-
sons it has been concluded (ibid.) that this
tektite chemistry must represent an extrater-
restrial igneousrock chemistry.That the ItMg
tektite chemistry, which is so distinct from
earth igneousrocks, happensto be so closein
composition to the first acidic rock returned
from the moon is surely an observation that
shouldnot passunnoticed.
The Apollo missionsalso have revealed data
that have been interpreted as constitutinga
major difficulty for the lunar impact origin of
tektites. Thus far only old rocks with differen-
tiation ages3.3 b.y. or more have been returned
from the maria landing sites of Apollo 11 and
12. In contrast, tektites are comparatively
young, less than 2.5 b.y. The lunar uplands,
it is reasoned,are even older than the maria,
and therefore not a likely source of tektites.
 AUSTRALASIAN TEKTITE ORIGIN
Partly because of this apparent difficulty,
O'Keefe [1970] has abandonedthe widely ac-
ceptedhypothesisof impact origin in favor of
the older hypothesisof lunar volcanicorigin.
The latter, he suggests,circumventsthe age
difficulty, since the differentiationage of vol-
canic ejecta could be nearly the same as that
of the final paroxysmiceruption which hurled
the ejecta into space. However, an alternate
explanation not incompatible with the lunar
impact hypothesisalso appears possible;the
ancientuplands,even though comprisedmainly
of basicmaterial, may contain acidic intrusions
of various agesranging from old to young. The
combinedphysical processesof impact splash,
atmosphereentry, and solutiondecomposition
on earth (as explainedin Appendix 3) could
have resulted in dissolutionof the basic glass
and selectivesurvival of the acidic glass.Thus
the apparent differentiationagesof lunar im-
pact glasswhichlandedand survivedon earth
of basic material in the toOOh'S crust.
Inasmuch as Surveyor 9 landed near the
wouldbe generallyyoungerthan the main mass
north rim of Tycho and obtained a chemical
analysis[Turkevich et al., 1968; Patterson et
al., 1970], it is of interestto comparethis with
the tektite data. Crater eject• are depositedin
an inverted order to the original stratigraphic
layering,hence,Surveyor7 is presumedto have
landed on low-velocity eject• from the last
stage of Tycho throw out. Such eject• could
have comefrom plutohie rock as deep as 10 to
15 km belowthe originalsurface[Gault et al.,
1968]. Tektites, on the other hand, are thought
to originateas high-velocityfused ejecta from
• relatively early and more highly shocked
stageof the crater excavationprocess,and thus
to representrock originally from much shal-
lower depths.The Surveyor 7 analysisresem-
bles anorthosite,a rock with Si02 (46%) con-
sider•bly lower, and with CaO (18%) and
A120•(22%) considerably higher,than in tek-
tires. However, if an extrapolation to lower
Si02 were made of the compositionaltrends
for the family of ItCa australites,which vary
systematicallyover the range of SiO• from
about 80% down to 66% [Chapman and
Scheiber,1969, Figure 9], • compositionnot in silica,up to at least85% SiOn.(89% Si02
greatlydifferentfrom anorthositewouldbe ob- if Darwin glassis considered
tained. Whether or not a singlefamily of rocks Sinceit is generallyacceptedthat high-silica
will be found on the moon with such • wide rocks on earth are evolved in a late stage of
6329
variation in SiOn,and with chemicalcharacter-
istics which interlink HC• australites to
anorthosite-likerocks, is somethingyet to be
determined from future lunar explorations.
CONCLUDING I•E1VI•ARI•SAND INI•PLICATIONS
FOR SELENOLOGY
Whereasa new theory in physicalsciencecan
be verified repeatedlyby direct evidencefrom
laboratoryexperiments,any new theory in nat-
ural science about an event as ancient as the
tektites must necessarilyrest on circumstantial
evidence. As in a courtroom trial, then, the
presentcircumstantialevidencefor the caseof
lunar tektite origin is summarizedas follows:
We have the aerodynamic ablation evidence
that the Australasiantektites camethrough the
earth's atmosphereas cosmicbullets from the
moon; we have the evidenceof a 'crater de-
lecti,' Tycho, in the southernhemisphereof
the moon within the vicinity where the com-
puter trajectoriesfix the sceneof the crime;
we have further the evidence still visible that •
shot was fired from Tycho in precisely the
right direction;and we have the identifying
fingerprintprovidedby matchingthe pattern
of tektite distribution with the pattern of tra-
jectorytrailsfrom Tycho.Moreover,fromthe
Apollo data we have the evidencethat glass
of the size and form of microtekrites has been
splashedextensivelyover the moon; and that
the compositionof the first acidic rock re-
turned from the moon closely resemblesin
mostrespects a tektite composition.
In all, this
is enoughto prosecute for a conviction
before
the jury of the scientificcommunity.
In view of suchevidence,it seemswarranted
to outlinesomeconsequences to selenology
that
are impliedby the conclusions about tektite
origin.Inasmuchas tektitesare high in silica,
and the Australasianires are estimated to com-
priseas muchas 108tons of suchglass,the
conceptof tektite originby meteoriticimpact
on the moon clearly impliesthat:
1. Much glasshas beensplashedout of im-
pact craterson the moon.
2. The moon has evolved rocks very high
as tektite glass).
6330 DEAN R. CI-IAPMAN

magnetic differentiation,we are led to the fur- led to the anticipation

that granite-like
rocks
ther implicationthat: at least this high in silica will be found some-
3. The moon's interior has been hot, at where on the moon. Implication 3, long anti-
least in spots. The Rb-Sr isotope ages of the thetical to the 'cold moon' idea, is consistent
four known tektite events range from a few with Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 findings: the
hundred million years for Australasiantektites upwelling of basaltic magma of such vast ex-
to as much as 2.5 X 109years for Ivory Coast tent as the maria, and the clear differentiation
tektites. It would be very improbable that a sequenceof the Apollo 12 rocks [Lunar Sam-
random sample of only four portions of the ple Preliminary Examination Team, 1970] are
lunar crust would contain a specimen either compatiblewith this implication.Implication 4,
of the youngestrock on the moon or of the though, has not yet been confirmed,inasmuch
oldest. Hence: as only geologicallyold rockshave beenidenti-
4. The formation of rocks on the moon (and fied thus far in the Apollo samples.Sinceba-
thus lunar volcanism) must have spanned a salt, anorthosite,and a 'granite,' all rock types
very wide range in time, from geologicallyold commonon earth, have alreadybeen returned
to geologicallyyoung.The generalchemistryof by the astronauts,implication 5 is considered
tektites in many respectsis so similar to earth to be reasonablycorroboratedby the Apollo
rock chemistry that geochemistshave com- data. Implications 6 and 7, however, remain
monly preferredan earth originfor the tektites. to be tested by future landingsin the lunar up-
If geochemistscannot clearly discern tektite lands.
chemistryfrom earth rock chemistry,then we
APPENDIX l. PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO OUTLINE
cannot avoid the implication that:
TttE DISTRIBUTION PATTERN
5. The chemicalorigin of rocks in parts of
the lunar crust is somehow closely related to It may be of interestto explainwhy previous
the chemicalorigin of earth rocks.The princi- attempts to definea geometricpattern within
pal conclusionof the present investigation-- the strewnfield of Australasian tektites have
that the Australasian tektites came from the led to patterns differentfrom that constructed
Rosse ray of Tycho--leads to two additional herein. From early measurementsof the spe-
implications' cific gravity of australitesmainly from the
6. Tycho was formed at the same time as three concentration centers of Victoria (2.41-1-
the Australasian tektites, about 700,000 years mode), Charlotte Waters (2.43-1-mode), and
agoaccordingto presentagedata. Kalgoorlie(2.45-t- mode), it was thoughtthat
7. The lunar upland areasnear Tycho have there was a simplegradientpattern of silica
evolved a number of different varieties of decreasingfrom east to west acrossAustralia
acidic igneousrock rangingwidely in chemical [Summers, 1909; Baker and Forster, 1943].
composition. But our more completedata on SG from more
than thirty different australite localitiesnow
Some,but not all, of these selenologicalim- showthat the populationof highestSG is not
plicationshave beenconfirmedby Apollo land- in western Australia but is near the eastern
ings.As yet nonehavebeendemolished. Impli- coast(Uralla, 2.46+ mode),and the australite
cation I has been decisivelyconfirmedby the populationsof lowestSG are not in eastern
discoveryin the lunar regolithof embarassingly Australia but in central Australia (2.38+
large quantitiesof glass of microtektiresize mode). Thus theseearly SG data were simply
and shape. 'There are glass beads in every inadequatein scope.A different pattern was
crater you cometo and look in,' ApolloAstro- suggested by Beyer [1933], who constructed
naut Bean commented.Implication 2 has not from 25 chemical analysesthen available a
yet beenpositivelyconfirmed;but the discov- 'great-circleband' running northwestfrom
Australia across Southeast. Asia. His data also
ery of glassymesostasiscontainingas muchas
78% SiO•withinthe interstices
betweencrystals wereinadequatein number.Still a differentap-
of the Apollo11 basalts[Roedderand Weiblen, proachwas taken by Cohen[1962]. Mainly
1970; Kushiroet al., 1970; Keilet al., 1970; on the basis of the Ni abundance at ten locali-
Agrellet al., 1970;Andersonet al., 1970] has ties in the northernpart of the strewnfield,he
 AUSTRALASIAN TEKTITE ORIGIN 6331
drew a two-lobedistributionpattern emanating by Pahang in Figure 4c. The Ban Tre Lai
from Thailand, one lobe low in Ni (lessthan 32 specimensare all low Ni (four analyses) and
ppm) extendingeastward to the Philippines, includesomeHCu,B types,whereasthe Pahang
and one lobe high in Ni (over 125 ppm) ex- specimens
are all medium-highNi (three anal-
tendingsouthwardto Java. But our subsequent yses). Hence, this particular pair of localitiesis
measurementsfrom about 20 times as many lo- not taken as a match. On the other hand, tek-
calities as were available to Cohen (including tires in Malaya are of the samechemicaltype
all ten localitiesusedby Cohen) outline a dif- as those in West Thailand ('Chiang-Rai' type,
ferent pattern (Figure 3). A number of locali- CaO/MgO greater than or equal to unity, with
ties with Ni over 125 ppm, for example,have medium-highNi); their SG polygonsare also
now been found within his 'low Ni' lobe (e.g., of the samehomogeneous type; and individual
Pasuquin, 325 ppm; South China Sea, 205 specimensfrom Batu Gajah in Malaya, and
ppm; Plateau Van Itoa, 250 ppm; Buon from Ban Mae Jong in West Thailand are
M'Nar, 29•, ppm; Kouang Tcheou Wan, 180 foundto chemicallymatch (Table 1, match 8).
ppm). From a study of tektite internal struc- This pair of localities in Malaya and West
ture, principally lechatelierite abundance and Thailand, therefore, is taken as a match. As
size, Barnes [1964] suggestedthat a concentric another illustrative example,a specimenfrom
pattern exists in Southeast Asia, elongate in Serpentine Lakes, South Australia, nearly
the northeast direction and centered around matches the chemistry of a West Thailand
Thailand and Laos. He studied twelve locali- specimen[Chapman and Scheiber,1969, anal-
ties in this area, but his limited data can also yses51 and 56]. The SG polygon at Serpentine
be interpreted as a northeast streak pattern-- Lakes, however,is of the heterogeneoustype,
a pattern that would be compatiblewith that without a prominent mode (Figure 4b), and
deduced from the more extensive chemical data with high SG specimens(above 2.46); whereas
of the present study. In essence,the raw data thosein West Thailand are of the homogeneous
used in these four previousstudiesdo not con- 'spike'type with a very prominentmode,and
flict with those of the present investigation: withouthigh SG specimens
(Figure4c). Hence
the strewnfield distribution pattern is simply Serpentine Lakes and West Thailand are not
too complex for even its principal features to takenas matchinglocalities.
As a finalexample,
have been discernedfrom the relatively meager chemical matches with I)alat tektites are found
data previously available. in North Cambodia and also in South China
Recently, from a study of the abundance (KouangTcheouWan). The SG polygonsin
pattern of australites, McColl and Williams North Cambodia,however,are relativelyheter-
[1970] observedthat two principallinesof dis- ogeneous,containinghigh SG specimens(above
tribution could be discerned: one stretching 2.46), whereasthe SG polygonfor I)alat and
from Port CampbellNW to Charlotte Waters, SouthChinacutsoffat 2.45.The I)alat polygon
and one from the Nullarbor Plain NNW to hasthe samemodeand is closelysimilarto the
Lake Wilson. Both of these lines are compati- higherSG componentpolygonof the hi-modal
ble with the distributionpattern deducedherein polygonfor KouangTcheouWan; and chemical
from the pattern of chemicalvariations. matchesexistbetweenthesetwolocalities(Table
APPENDIX 2. EXAMPLES OF TI-IE COMBINED
1, match 3); henceI)alat and KouangTcheou
Wan are taken as a match.
USE OF SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND CI-IEMICAL
I)ATA APPENDIX 3. POSSIBLEEXPLANATIONS OF
SOME SIGNIFICANT OBSERVATIONS
ABOUT
The data from SG polygonsand chemical
TEKTITES
analyseswere used in delineatingfine structure
among all but the uncommonor rare chemical Why tektitesare glass. Crater ejectashock-
types. For example, the SG polygonsat Ban acceleratedto a low velocity would comprise
Tre Lai in North Vietnam, at Pahang in Ma- mainly warmed breccia; but ejccta shock-ac-
laya, and at Lumpoon in West Thailand are celerated to lunar escapevelocity would com-
mutually quite similar,eachexhibitinga prom- prise thoroughly fused material. This follows
inent mode at 2.43-k of the type illustrated from the Rankine-Hugoniotlaw for energy
6332 DEAN l•. CI-IAP•AN

partition in a strongshockwave: AE = V•2/2, to the eclipticplane; the moonpositionis shown

where E is the internal energy per unit mass, only at the instant of lunar impact. These 16
and V• is the particlevelocityreachedby shock particlesleave the moonwith an azimuthaland
acceleration. Shock acceleration to Vp = 2.6 an tierational velocity dispersionequal to 3%
km/scc,the mostprobablelunar cjectavelocity of the mean clusterejectionvelocity (a disper-
for hitting the earth, would impart (2.6 X sion equivalent to A3 = 2ø in azimuth, and
105)2/2 = 3.4 X 10'•øcrg/g of internal energy. .A/• = 2ø in elevation). The longitudinalve-
After ejectioninto space,and adiabaticunload- locity dispersion,2.55 to 2.73 km/sec, is 8%
ing of pressure,abouthalf to two-thirdsof this of the mean velocity, corresponding to several
energy would remain as internal energy, cor- timesthe transversedispersion. This is roughly
respondingroughly to 500 cal/g, or to tempera- the elongateproportionsof typical 'ray ele-
tures of about 1800øC. The simultaneous com- ments' visible on the moon. Velocities greater
bination of high temperaturewith very high than 2.73, or lessthan 2.55 km/scc,wouldmiss
shock pressure (hundreds of kilobars) is be- the earth. It is seen that after one day the
lieved to be su•cient to thoroughly fuse sili- cluster has spread over dimensionsseveral
cates. We can thus explain why tektites are times the earth's diameter; and at 2.9 days,
glass;why unfusedmineral grainsare rare in when the leading particle hits earth, the re-
tektites; and why gobsof partially fusedtek- maining particles are strewn in space over a
tire material are not found on earth. An impact third of the distanceto the moon, stretching
creates much more brecciated and partially about 150,000 km along, and about 50,000 km
fused material than glass; but such material, transverseto, the mean trajectory path. Yet,
low in velocity, would remain near its source at 3.5 days, all this highly strung-outcluster
on the moon. has landed on earth confinedto a geographic
WY•y tek•i•es are not spread all over the spreadof only 13,000km in longitudeby 9,000
earth. The areal spread on earth of tcktitcs km in latitude! Some scientists have disre-
from a singleevent is confinedto only a por- gardedthe idea of lunar tektite origin on the
tion of the globe by the pronouncedeffect of unfoundedbelief that impact ejecta from the
earth gravitationalfocusing.This can be illus- moonwouldspreadall overearth.Such'object-
trated by the moon-to-earth trajectories for tions' overlook,amongother things, this pow-
the cjecta from the Rosseray of Tycho. Shown erful effectof earth gravitationalfocusing.The
to scale in Figure 14 are the positions of a earth's rotation, it shouldbe noted, also hap-
clusterof 16 particlesat three differenttimes of pens to be in such a direction as to compress
1, 2, and 2.9 days after leaving Tycho. Two the geographiclongitudespread of the ejecta
viewsare depicted,onenormaland oneparallel relative to what it would be without rotation.

TRAJECTORY
OF/
CENTER PARTICLE

VIEW PARALLEL TO ECLIPTIC PLANE

EARTH
ECLIPTIC

FINAL DISTRIBUTION
TRAJECTORY
OF/ ON EARTH
CENTER PARTICLE
3.5 DAYS •
Fig. 14. Scale diagram of cluster position and spreadin space during travel from Tycho
to earth.
 AUSTRALASIAN TEKTITE ORIGIN 6333

The major fraction of lunar crater ejecta that
escapesthe moon must missthe earth. It has
been suggestedthat this fraction would later
return and that glassin the recognizableform
of tcktites should be spread randomly over
earth. Such returns, however, require on the
averagethe order of 10ø yearsor more before a
probable encounter with earth; whereas the
mean lifetime in space before destruction of
tektite glass by meteoric bombardment, as
Gault and Wedekind [1969] estimate, is sev-
eral orders of magnitude less. The 'returns,'
therefore,would not be tektites, but tektite dust
comprisingonly a small fraction of the total
meteoricdustthat continuallyentersthe earth's
atmosphere.Some of the small particles may
a.lsobe destroyedby the mechanismof 'rota-
tional bursting' describedby Paddack [1969].
Why moldavitesand Ivory Coast tektites
are mot found all around theircormate earth
craters. An evidentconsequence of the present
gerberwith the processes
of geological
obscura-
tion that have acted over the 15-million-year
period sincethe moldavitesfell, provide a pos-
sible explanationof the very restricteddistri-
bution known at presentfor this tektite group.
How it is possible•or the australites to be
restricted mainly to the southern part o)• the
continent. It has long been known that few,
if any, australites are found north of about
23øS latitude. Such a 'cut off' in latitude could
result if the Australasian event were com-
pound, and if many of the australiteswere
associated with a cormate crater that formed
somewhere in the north of Australia. It is of
interest, perhaps,to speculateon an earth
crater that might be connate with the aus-
tralites. Wolf Creek crater was formed by an
iron meteorite,and is situatedin northernAus-
tralia at a locality preciselyaligned with the
LSG-HCa streak. The HCa australites are not
found elsewhere in the Australasian strewnfield.

model for tektite eventsis that, when a ray
elementcomprisingspray and a trailing large
fragment is hurled to earth, the tektite spray
streamsout mainly aheadof the fragment,and
thus lands mainly on one side only of the con-
hate crater--not uniformly all around it. This
providesan explanationof why the moldavites
are found on one side only of Ries crater, and
why the Ivory Coast tektites and microtekrites
are found on one side only of Bosumtwi
crater. Within the scopeof this model,glassof
tektite compositioncould be found right up
to, and even in the immediate vicinity of, a
cormate crater.
How a very restricted tektite distribution,
such as the moldavites,can be compatiblewith
a lunar origin. As was noted earlier, the
present model includes the possi•bilityof a
Unlike other meteortriocraters,the iron shale
masses found around Wolf Creek commonly
resembleteardrops, pears, disks,bananas [Mc-
Call, 1965], shapestypical of deformationand
formationof iron in a plasticor highly viscous
state.A meteoriticfragmentof suchsizeas that
which formed Wolf Creek crater would cool
little in a 3-day journey from moon to earth.
Sucha fragment,first shockheatedthroughout
to the order of 650ø during a lunar impact,
would be shock heated a second time upon
striking earth; and this time heatedto temper-
atures at which iron softens and is readily de-
formed or extruded. Hence, if Wolf Creek
crater is cormate to the Australasian tektites,
we would have an explanationfor the curious
shapesof iron shalemassesfound around this
crater.

tektite event that is truncated. Few ray ele- In Figure 15 the trajectory landing pattern
ments would travel dead-center toward is illustrated for a hypothetical compound
earth.
In a truncated event, most of the spray can event from Tycho comprisingtwo ray elements:
miss the earth, in which casethe small fraction a major one, with .A• = AS -- 1ø, and a
that lands as tektites would land only in a minor one with A]• = AS = 0.8ø. The smaller
restricted area near their conhate crater. Also, projectile fragment associatedwith this minor
a 2 ø spread of spray (A]• : AS = 2ø) like ray elementwould leave Tycho at V• = 2.572
that used in most of the illustrations herein is km/sec, 1• = 50.0ø, and $ = 17.5ø in order to
considerablylarger than for many ray elements impact earth at Wolf Creek crater. These
observedon the moon. Someshowonly about launchanglesfor fi and $ are within 1ø of those
1/2 ø spread; these, if truncated, would land for the major fragmentwhich couldeither have
on earth in an area greatly confinedboth in impacted somewherein the Pacific Ocean or
length and breadth. Such circumstances, to- have missedthe earth. Such a compoundevent
6334 DEAN R. C•Ai'•AN

• .

,• ',, ,,. ...... • L•..-• ..

' •,•,• . • , . V•,WOLF

CK.

..•:-... .........

.:...........................
-• ......'.•:'
:•:....
. . .... . :' .-':.'
•....
. . ..-.....
.........
•.......
: :'"..x..•:..:_.
.'--,:.....
•,:%.,
......
If. ,;. ;:--,.: : ....•_ •.,.:-
:.,'•..-:-.:'[ :.:. :-:: ":'
.-'.;::.:'•.:..'
.::.- •,,... . •-:-•j
::::::F•._:
,,....•... •.'-'
:-'::•
•
,• - /:'•k• ''"•
-•-'• .•
-.- .
.

I I II I I

Fig. 15. Example of hypothetical compound event from Tycho c.omprising two ray ele-
ments' Projectile fragment for major element (a? -- da -- 1ø) lands either in. Pacific or
missesearth; projectile fragment for minor element (aft -- da -- 0.8ø) lands at Wolf Creek,
Australia..

providesa possible,but as yet unsubstantiated, spreads from southern Australia to Southeast

explanationfor the observedlatitude cut off of Asia, for example, represents¾• between 2.62
the australites.The age of Wolf Creek crater and 2.55 km/sec. The correspondinginternal
has not yet been determined; but its general energiesat ejection would vary by the factor
appearanceis such as to warrant investigation (2.62/2.55) •' = 1.06. This, in turn, corresponds
as a possiblecrater connateto the australites. to a temperature variation of about 130øC,
The trajectory trails in Figure 15 also illus- which, for a given tektite composition,corre-
trate that a 1ø spray dispersion(.Aft = A8 = s.pondsto a variation in viscosityby a factor of
1ø), which is representativeof many lunar ray about 4. Since Australasianitescommonlyvary
elements,is essentiallyadequateto explain the in SiO, from 70 to 80%, this introducesat the
Australasiandistributionpattern. The fact that temperatures of formation additional variations
a 2ø spray dispersionwas used for most illus- in viscosityby another factor'of 10. Variations
trations herein is not critical to the principal in porosityof the pre-impact rock couldintro-
conclusionthat the Tycho ejecta pattern con- duce still further variations in viscosityfor a
formsto the tektite distributionpattern. given ¾,.,.An over-all variation in viscosityby
If the Australasian event were compound,it a factor of 40 is compatible with the observed
is alsodynamicallypossiblefor one of the frag- variation in shapes of most tektites, such as
ments to. land in Africa near' the Ivory Coast from mainly smallround formsin the Nullarbor
tektites. Presentage.data, however,apparently Plains of Australia where SiO, averagesabout
exclude such an association [Gentnet et al., 70%, to mainly teardrops.and more irregular
]•70]. shapes in Southeast Asia. where SiO• averages
Why tetctite shape variations are somewhat about 75%. Experimentswith glassejectionat
restricted. The law of energyequipartitionfor various temperatureshave shownthat a varia-
shockacceleration,combinedwith the relatively tion in viscosityof formation by a factor of 44
narrow rangein lunar ejectionvelocity V• that [Chapman, 1964, Figure 12] produces shape
sendsmaterial to earth, providesa semiquanti- and size variations from mainly round forms
tative explanation of the most commonvaria- of small size to mainly teardrops and irregular
tions in tekfite shape. The Tycho ejecta that forms of much larger size. Thus the Tycho
 AUSTRALASIAN TEKTITE ORIGIN 6335

trajectorycalculationsand corresponding ener- periments [Chapman, 1964] in which glasses

giesprovidereasonableexplanationof the prin- of various viscositywere ejected from a pres-
cipal variations in Australasiantektite shape. surized tube, and recoveredss splashforms--
Most of the ejecta that reachesearth from the lower the viscosity, the smaller the size
otherlunar craters,suchas thosethat produced recovered.On the basis of these experiments,
the moldavites and the North American tck- it is to be expected that the same disruption
tites, also would have left the moon in nearly processthat produced tektite splash forms
the same velocity range (2.55 to 2.8 km/sec). typically of centimeter size and rarely of 10-
Hence we alsohave an explanationof the strik- cm size,would producebasicglassforms typi-
ing conformity observedbetween the shapes cally of severalmm size,and rarely of several
of moldavitcsand of SoutheastAsian tektites, cm size. Second,these smaller splash forms of
as well as the generalsimilarity in shapesbe- basic glass, again becauseof their lower vis-
tween bediasites,Ivory Coast lektites, and cosity, would not survive the atmosphereentry
certain Australasianires. that acidic tektitcs have survived. This has
Why lat•d tektites are acidic and not basic.been proven by aerodynamicablation experi-
Three factors are extremely selective for the ments in which two spheres, one of tcktite
survivsl of high-silica materials in a tektiteglassand one of basalt glasswere placedin the
event, and, hence, highly relevant to any de- same arc-jet stream. The amount of aerody-
ductionsaboutthe relativeproportionsof basic namic heating that turned a 2-cm tektite
and acidic rock that may have existedat the sphere into a typical australite button melted
crater impact site. The processesof impact all but a small fraction of the. sphereof basalt
splash,of stmosphereentry, and of terrestrial glass. This experiment is illustrated in Figure
decompositioneach act to selectively destroy 16. Similar experiments also showed that the
basicglassexposedto the sameseverephysical aerodynamicheatingthat turned a 1-cm tektite
environmentthat tektites have survived.First, sphereinto • button completelymelted • 1-cm
because of its lower viscosity, bssic glass sphereof basaltglass.Hence,basicglassof sev-
splashedfrom an impact crater would solidify eral millimeters to I cm size would land on
into smaller primary forms than acidic glass the ground only as • glass mist of ablation
exposedto the sametemperaturesand forcesof droplets • fraction of • millimeter in size.
disruption.This has been demonstratedby ex- Third, small ablation droplets of basic glass

:..
6336 DEAN R. CI-IAPMAN

would not survive decompositionby ground Mineralogy and petrology of some lunar sam-
waters. This has been establishedby some re- pies, Science,167, 583-586, 1970.
Albee, A. L., D. Burnett, A. Chodos, E. Itaines,
cent unpublishedexperimentsof Mr. Frank
J. Huneke, D. Papanastassiou, F. Podosek,
Centolanzi who found that fresh water decom-
G. Russ, III, and G. Wasserburg,Mineralogie
poses basaltic glass at ten times the rate of and isotopic investigations on lunar rock 12013,
tektite glass.His measurementscorrespondto a Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 9, 137-163, 1970.
decompositionrate at room temperature of 2 Andersen,C. A., J. R. Itinthorne, and K. Fred-
riksson, Ion microprobe analysis of lunar ma-
mm/m.y. for tektite glass,and approximately
terial from Apollo 11, Proc. Apollo 11 Lunar
2 cm/m.y. for basalt glass.Hence, basalt glass Science Conference, vol. 1, 159-167, Pergamon,
that is wet only a few days per year would New York, 1970.
decomposea few tenths of a millimeter in Anderson,A. T., Jr., A. V. Crewe, J. R. Gold-
700,000 years, enoughto dissolvethe ablation smith, P. B. Moore, J. C. Newton, E. J. Olsen,
J. V. Smith, and P. J. Wyllie, Petrologlehistory
droplet remainsof basalt glass.Becauseof these of moon suggestedby petrography, mineralogy
three powerful screeningprocesses for selective and crystallography,Science,167, 587-590, 1970.
survival of acidic glass, it follows that the Arnold, J. R., The origin of meteoritesas small
Australasian tektite shower might have been bodies, 2, The model, Astrophys.J., 141, 1536-
accompaniedby more basic than acidic glass, 1547, 1965.
and we would have no way of knowing that Baker, G., and It. C. Forster,The specificgravity
relationshipsof australites,Amer. J. Sci., 241,
today from observationson land. 377-406, 1943.
In deep-sea cores, however, some basic Barnes,V. E., Tektite strewn-fields,in Tektites,
microtektireshave survived;and this is indeed edited by J. A. O'Keefe, chap. 2, University of
consistent with Centolanzi's experiments. I-Ie Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 1963a.
Barnes,V. E., Detrital mineral grainsin tektites,
observedthat, whereas tektites and basalt Science,142, 1651-1652,1963b.
glassloseweightby decomposing in freshwater, Barnes, V. E., Variation of petrographicand
they do not in salt water. In fact, they gain a chemical characteristics of indochinite tektites
little weight in salt water. Some other glasses within their strewnfield, Geochim. Cosmochim.
of differentchemistrydecompose in salt water. Acta, 28, 893-913, 1964.
therefore, Beyer,
Dependinguponthe glasschemistry, It. O., The chemistryof tektites,and notes
on their physicalgrouping,in Phillippine Tek-
and perhapsupon the chemistryof the sedi- tires, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 59-86, 1933. (Univer-
ment in which the glass is immersed,small sity of the Philippine Publications,1961-1962).
dropletsof basicglass(microtektires)in deep- Billerbeck-Gentz,F. Unterbrechungserscheinungen
sea sedimentsmay or may not survive decom- am mondstrahlTycho-Polybius-Fracastor-Rosse,
Astron. Nachr. 274, 140, 1943.
positionfor 700,000years. Thus, only a lower
Braslau,D., Partitioning of energyin hyperveloc-
limit can be placed on the fraction of basic ity impact againstloosesand targets,J. Geo-
glass that originally accompaniedthe Aus- phys. Res., 75, 3987-3999, 1970.
tralasian tektites; it was at least as large as Cassidy, W. A., B. Glass, and B. C•. Iteezen,
the fraction recoverable today among micro- Physicaland chemicalpropertiesof Australasian
microtektites, J. Geophys. Res., 74, 1008-1025,
tektites, and possiblymuch larger. 1969.
Chao, E. C. T., E. J. Dwornik, and J. Littler,
Acknowledgments. I am singularly indebted to New data on the nickel-iron spherules from
It. Julian Allen, a former colleague in aerody- Southeast Asian tektites and their implications,
namics and warm personal friend, who told me, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 28, 971-980, 1964.
two years before I could see how it possibly could Chao, E. C. T., O. B. James,J. A. Minkin, J. A.
be done, that if I were really any good as an Boreman, E. D. Jackson,and C. D. Raleigh,
aerodynamicist, I should be able to figure out Petrology of unshockedcrystalline rocks and
from which crater and which ray the tektites shock effects in lunar rocks and minerals, Sci-
came. I also thank Frank J. Centolanzi, Leroy C. ence, 167, 644-647, 1970.
Scheiber, and Norman B. Zimmerman, who have Chapman,D. R., On the unity and origin of the
assistedin many phasesof this researchsinceits Australasian tektites, Geochim. Cosmochim.
inception in 1960. Acta, 28, 841-880, 1964.
Chapman,D. R., A theory of tektite eventsand
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