Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Such current may propagate into silica-rich quartzose sand, mixed soil, clay, or other sediments, rapidly vaporizing and melting resistant materials within such a common dissipation regime. [3] This results in the formation of generally hollow and/or vesicular, branching assemblages of glassy tubes, crusts, and clumped masses. [4]
Trinitite, also known as atomsite or Alamogordo glass, [1] [2] is the glassy residue left on the desert floor after the plutonium-based Trinity nuclear bomb test on July 16, 1945, near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The glass is primarily composed of arkosic sand composed of quartz grains and feldspar (both microcline and smaller amount of plagioclase ...
One common way in which lechatelierite forms naturally is by very-high-temperature melting of quartz sand during a lightning strike. The result is an irregular, branching, often foamy hollow tube of silica glass called a fulgurite. [2] Not all fulgurites are lechatelierite; the original sand must be nearly pure silica.
The glass transition temperature of basalt is about 700 °C (1,292 °F). [4] The mechanisms controlling formation of volcanic glass are further illustrated by the two forms of basaltic glass, tachylite and sideromelane. Tachylite is opaque to transmitted light because of the abundance of tiny oxide mineral crystals suspended in the glass ...
Aphanitic (a = not, phaner = visible) rocks, in contrast to phaneritic rocks, typically form from lava which crystallize rapidly on or near Earth's surface. When extrusive rocks make contact with the atmosphere they cool quickly, so the minerals do not have time to form large crystals. The individual crystals in an aphanitic igneous rock are ...
Vitreous minerals have the lustre of glass. (The term is derived from the Latin for glass, vitrum.) This type of lustre is one of the most commonly seen, [9] and occurs in transparent or translucent minerals with relatively low refractive indices. [2] Common examples include calcite, quartz, topaz, beryl, tourmaline and fluorite, among others.
Fourth, the flow-banding within tektites often contains particles and bands of lechatelierite, which are not found in terrestrial volcanic glasses. Finally, a few tektites contain partly melted inclusions of shocked and unshocked mineral grains, i.e. quartz, apatite, and zircon, as well as coesite. [2] [3] [4]
Vitrified sand; Volcanic glass This page was last edited on 3 November 2021, at 20:30 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 ...