[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Q. When is a Tektite Not a Tektite? A. When It is Found on the Moon.
Excellent point! Reminds me of the old saying--"the victors of the last
war write the history." So who says there were no tektites found on the
Moon? I read this misstatement all the time! Evidence of tektite
glass--albeit very minute--was indeed verified as mentioned. But then
granite--the source of tektites according to the O'Keefe school--may
only make up 1% of lunar surface material (but there's likely more deep
in the Moon). It's curious how the historic and scientific record gets
rewritten--in this case by "impactists" like S.A. Taylor, et al, in the
wake of the Apollo era. The Apollo 12013 material--according to
independent researcher Hal Povenmire--would have been hailed as a
tektite if it had been found on the Earth. So why wasn't it hailed as
tektitic when found on the Moon? The rivalry between tektite
researchers in the 1960s and 70s was cut throat (and don't kid yourself
that scientists are pure souls in search of the truth at all costs, even
if it threatens their own work). The tektitic fragment in the Apollo
12013 KREEP sample was nearly identical to a javanite in composition!
(Sounds a little bit like proof to me?)
No matter, I'll be happy to share photocopies of O'Keefe's classic paper
"Tektite Glass in Apollo 12 Sample" (from the journal SCIENCE, 1970,
v168, p. 1209-10) if no one has access to it from a library collection.
Just send me a self-addressed stamped envelope--with two first-class
stamps to cover a 2 ounce envelope returned to you--to me at the
following address. I'll also throw in a lunar-volcanic tektite paper by
astronomer Winifred Cameron (formerly with NASA Goddard) but now quite
active in LTP observing with ALPO--she has documented what appear to be
several recent pyroclastic volcanic events on the "dead" Moon.
Lou Varricchio
RR 3, Box 498
Middlebury, VT 05753
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Tobin [SMTP:jimmypaul@earthlink.net]
> Sent: Thursday, August 06, 1998 2:33 PM
> To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: Unidentified subject!
>
> Dear Louis and list,
> You did a great job of describing the place we are at today with
> tektites.
> No mechanism for their formation in an impact event in the size and
> shapes
> they are found. And direct evidence in the form of microtektites like
> in
> the Haiti material that the size tektites impacts will produce is very
> tiny. I would only add that we have been told that since the
> astronauts
> returned no volcanically produced tektites or tektite glass that there
> are
> none on the moon. Where are the impact produced tektites that should
> have
> been returned from the moon a heavily cratered body. The glass beads
> in the
> lunar soils are volcanic the impact theorists says, but the moon is
> volcanically dead they also say. Are the beads billions of years old
> from
> the time of the sea formation or like the Haiti glass beads are they
> the
> impact tektites. As Louis has also stated and as I have said in the
> past
> physics dictates that the size of tektites will be very small if they
> are
> made in a high velocity turbulent stream at very high temperature.
> I was looking only last night at my 600 gram perfect Phillipinite
> sphere
> and again wondered how it could be produced in the chaos of an impact
> event.
> If chemical etching is the reason for the texturing of tektites than
> there
> should not be the characteristic baldspot on indochinites, or the
> smooth
> flange and ablation surfaces but rough posterior button on
> australites. All
> the surfaces have been exposed to that chemical solution for the same
> length of time. It is clear there is some etching because freshly
> broken
> tektites which expose bubbles will show the bubbles to be very shiny.
> (their original fire polish).
> On another occasion let's talk about the micrometeorite impact pits
> being
> found in increasing numbers on both micro and macrotektites.
> Lack of evidence does not mean non-existence when it comes to life on
> Mars,
> but not finding tektites at six places they were not expected to be
> found,
> did seem to mean non existence for them on the moon.
>
> Jim Tobin
> The Meteorite Exchange
> www.meteorite.com
> P.O.7000-455, Redondo Beach, CA 90277 USA
>
> ----------
> List Archives are located at
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/list_best.html
> For other help, FAQ's and subscription info and other resources,
> visit http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing_list.html
> ----------
----------
List Archives are located at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/list_best.html
For other help, FAQ's and subscription info and other resources,
visit http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing_list.html
----------