Author name: Norm Lehrman

In western Bavaria there is a broad, circular, low-relief basin some 24 km in diameter that is home to a story-book perfect village dating to medieval times. Appropriately, the village of Nordlingen, with wall and moat, is also circular. At the center of town stands an ancient cathedral with a magnificent 90m steeple, all built of stone blocks quarried nearby.

Zhamanshin crater is a 13.5 km diameter circular meteorite impact structure located about 40 km southwest of the village of Irghiz, Kazakhstan. Approximately one million years in age, the locality is best known for its Irghizites, beautiful little droplets and ropy ribbons of vitreous jet-black glass. Showing clear evidence of aerodynamic flight-shaping, Irghizites have long tested the definitional boundaries between

When it is time for a new edition, I search through our collection and inventory looking for a stone or group of similar stones with a good story to tell. Over our years of sorting through crates of tektites till our fingers were raw, we have always selected out the unusual or unique or interesting or somehow special pieces. When

How can one follow the last issue story that explains the greatest tektite mystery of all time? If you missed it, check the archives. I am now satisfied that the Indoaustralian tektite event consisted of a large cluster of aerial bursts with no deep crater formation anywhere! This month’s Tektite Teaser fits nicely into the heart of an aerial burst

Seventh attempt to write this piece? Why? The late Darryl Futrell, one of the greatest tektite aficionados of all time, was well-known for his belief that Muong Nong-type layered tektites held the keys to the kingdom of tektite mysteries, In his failing years, he sold off his world-class tektite collection in successive waves to help cover his medical bills. In

There is a class of Indochinite teardrops that are commonly termed “Hershey’s Kisses” out of morphological similarities to their namesake. Some of these exhibit most unusual twisted tails, and this was to be an article about “twisters”, but I learned something unexpected along the way. There is power in numbers, and as I gathered a broad selection of our Hershey’s

Splashform tektites largely assumed their geometric form during aerodynamic flight, giving rise to a wide variety of dumbbells, teardrops, patties, spheroids, and similar forms. Amongst the splashforms, there is a subclass which I term “splatforms” which show deformation of primary shapes suggestive of having “splatted” against some hard surface while yet very plastic. In the last column of this series,

I hope that this will not disappoint you, but we will not here debate just what they splatted on, but it was either against a cushion of speed-related compressed air or the earth’s surface. That they “splatted” is clear. These were once highly liquid blobs of glass shaped as classic teardrops that impacted, in this case, side-first. We found these

Trinitite. Edeowie glass. Daugistau glass (if you’ve ever heard of this last one, you are part of a very exclusive brotherhood indeed. This article may well be the first time this material has been discussed in any public venue). These three (there are others, but this is a tale of three glasses!) are all of quite remarkably similar character. They

Streets radiate from a focal roundabout at the city center of Belitung Island’s largest metropolis, Tanjung Pandan. Within this roundabout is a formal garden in the shape of a flower, and at its center is a pool ringed with jetting fountains. Rising from the pool are six massive tiled columns supporting a hexagonal platform slab some 40 or 50 feet

There is as yet no clear consensus regarding the detailed origins of Libyan Desert Glass. What we do know is that 28.5 million years ago in what is now Egypt’s Western Desert, in the southern part of the country near the Libyan border, there was a significant encounter with a cosmic visitor. No crater is yet confirmed, but it is

One of the more graphic Lei Gong Mo morphologies is the splatted or telescoped teardrop. The image above presents a developmental sequence (in side view) that nicely illustrates the concept without much need for verbiage. Years ago I proposed the term “splatform” for splashform tektites that show plastic impact (or flight) deformation and these telescoped teardrops were a primary inspiration

There is a family of remarkably similar (and usually controversial) natural glasses, including, Saffordites (aka” Arizonaites”)Colombianites, Healdsburgites, and Philippine Amerikanites, which I term “pseudotektites”. Placed side by side with the real thing, these look very much like tektites, but they almost certainly are not. We are often approached by individuals that are convinced that they have discovered new tektites or

This is the third time I have tried to present this stone in the Tektite Teasers column. I just haven’t been able to do it justice. It is really hard to get a pleasing photograph of this complex piece. In describing the challenge of trying to capture the essence of this gem in a photograph, I find myself saying that

There are all sorts of collections, but a collection of like objects offers the simple pleasure of side-by-side comparison and contrast. It offers training in the range of variations on a theme, and it begs you to select your favorites. Collections are meant to be felt. We have been running low on Moldavite teardrops and for several years they have