Possible correlations between tektite events and climatic changes?
- 1 January 1982
- book chapter
- Published by Geological Society of America
- p. 251-256
- https://doi.org/10.1130/spe190-p251
Abstract
Previous work indicates that tektites are glass bodies produced by melting of terrestrial surface material during an impact event. Investigations of microtektites in deep-sea sediments imply that the impacts were highly energetic events as indicated by the masses of tektite glass produced (1013 to 1016 gm) and the large areas of the earth’s surface covered by tektites during each event. Some of the microtektite layers appear to be associated with extinctions or first appearances of marine microorganisms and all of the microtektite layers appear to be associated with drops in ocean water temperatures as indicated by previously reported oxygen isotope studies. Thus it seems possible that the impact events that produced the tektites initiated climatic changes that were responsible for the observed changes in the marine biota.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: