[meteorite-list] Tektite QUESTION

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:08:28 2004
Message-ID: <3D8AB674.E7B620A9_at_bhil.com>

Hi, Mark, Michael, List,

    The Port Campbell tektites that many Australian geologists are convinced are
very young was the subject of the last field investigation by Gene Shoemaker
before his tragic death in an Australian road accident (1997). His conclusion
was that all these "young" sites resulted from the tektites being washed into
the areas where these "young" soils were being formed, probably by the pluvials
that accompanied the end of the last ice age. He found the tektites had "stream"
distribution. I don't think this was ever published, so this is "word of mouth."
Despite the Australian opinion of their "youth," the Port Campbell and other
"young" tektites have the same isotopic ages as all other australites,
indochinites, etc.


Sterling K. Webb
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MARK BOSTICK wrote:

> Hello Michael,
>
> Potassium-argon dating done on tektites from China, Thialand, Laos and the
> Phillippines all date about the same as Australites suggesting a single
> origin, 700,000 years. However, there is evidence suggesting that
> Australites have a youger age and are from a different meteorite impact.
> Austalites are found in South Austalia in soil layers about 20,000 years
> old, while in the Victoria in layers about 12,000 years old and sometimes in
> sediments as low as 5,000 years old. There is also a discrepancy in
> radiomatric and stratigraphic test ages. Another convincing fact is that
> Austalites are better preserved then the other known tektites.
>
> Mark
>
> >From: Michael L Blood <mlblood_at_cox.net>
> >To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
> >Subject: [meteorite-list] Tektite QUESTION
> >Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 16:22:57 -0700
> >
> >Hi All,
> > I am sure I have it in more than one text SOMEWHERE, but can anyone
> >tell me quick short the estimated age of the Austro-asian strewn field
> >Tektites?
> > RSVP
> > Thanks, Michael
> >
> >
Received on Fri 20 Sep 2002 01:47:33 AM PDT