Moldavite

Moldavite
Moldavite from Dobrkovská Lhotka
General
CategoryGlass
Formula
(repeating unit)
SiO2(+Al2O3)
Crystal systemAmorphous
Identification
ColorOlive green
Mohs scale hardness5.5[1] to 7[2]
LusterVitreous
DiaphaneityOpaque, translucent, transparent
Specific gravity2.32 to 2.38
Optical propertiesIsotropic
Refractive index1.48 to 1.54
BirefringenceNone
PleochroismAbsent
DispersionNone
References[1]

Moldavite (Czech: vltavín) is a forest green, olive green or blue greenish vitreous silica projectile glass formed by a meteorite impact in southern Germany (Nördlinger Ries Crater)[3] that occurred about 15 million years ago.[4] It is a type of tektite and a gemstone.[5] Material ejected from the impact crater includes moldavite, which was strewn across parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria.[3]

  1. ^ a b "Moldavite". Gemdat.org. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  2. ^ O'Keefe A., John. "Tektites and their Origin"., Goddard Space Centre, NASA. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  3. ^ a b Artemieva, N., Pierazzo, E., Stöffler, D. (2002). "Numerical modeling of tektite origin in oblique impacts: Implication to Ries-Moldavites strewn field" (PDF). Bulletin of the Czech Geological Survey. 77. Czech Geological Survey: 303–311.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Earth Impact Database: Ries Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine at www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase, Accessed 5 February 2018
  5. ^ Paisarnsombat, S.; Monarumit, N.; Aimploysri, S. (2021). "Characteristic of Fe in tektite observed from XANES and UV-Vis spectroscopy". Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 1719 (1): 012002. Bibcode:2021JPhCS1719a2002P. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1719/1/012002. S2CID 234231433.