Thai Tektites,
8 messages in this thread
Hi everyone,
If you are interested in in buying or trading Thai tektites, of all shapes and
sizes, drop me a message.
Examples of dumbells, discs, balls, available.
Bumbell about 3 inches approx. USD20.
Adrian White
Hi, Adrian–
Welcome to the forum/section!
I see you did not mention button tektites – I would be interested in a tektite
showing aerodynamic shaping, say a button with flanges. I am not particular as
to which location/field it comes from. Is there something special about Thai
tektites compared to other fields of tektites?
–Doug
Hi, Doug
Thanks for the welcome.
Tektites from Thailand apparantly have been analysed by NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center and they have established that they are a result of volcanic
activity on the moon some 750,000 years ago.
Lunar samples from Apollo 11 and 12 are similar to the chemical characteristics
of Thai tekies.
I have three disc shaped ones, about 3" dia. that are the shape of a red blood
cell. They are black glass with lots of pitting and some melt stress lines.
Is this what you are after ?
Leaving Bangkok tomorrow and going onto Singapore will logon there.
Adrian
Hi, Adrian–
I had the vague impression that the only theory of tektite formation still in
good shape was that tektites were ejected from major impacts on earth. A
post-Apollo result supporting the lunar volcanism theory is quite interesting,
implying such "recent" activity up there – do you know of such results for the
other fields of tektites, positive or negative? I imagine that result and your
interest applies to tektites from "Indochina" as well, since I think they are
part of the same field.
If I show kids a flanged button tektite, it would be easy to convince them that
it was shaped by air flows. A red-blood-cell shape (is this the shape referred
to as "dumbbell" or the "disc" shape?) is intriguing, but I would have to do a
lot of arm-waving to try to justify that as a shape caused by fast motion
through air, especially since I do not understand it myself (it seems the
tektite was rotating rapidly when it melted, but other than that the shape
still puzzles me).
If that $20 figure applies to the 3" red-blood-cell shaped tektites, I am ready
to buy.
–Doug
I'm really puzzled. Maybe you could explain something. The moon has no
magnetic field to speak of, and that means that its core (unlike the earths) is
frozen solid. I would expect the moon to be a *lot* less geologically active
than the earth – do you know if this is the case? It would surprise me if
there were active volcanos on the moon 750,000 years ago – which is a blink of
an eye compared to the sorts of time scales in planetary evolution.
Hi, Tom–
I also have the impression that the moon lacks the activity of earth, and was
somewhat surprised that lunar volcanism of recent vintage is still suspected.
The presumed absence of a significant molten core does suggest that there is
little heat, and thus little or no mantle convection, which I expect has been
the case since the first half billion years or so.
But I can imagine volcanism that might be driven by tidal forces alone (the
moon cannot precisely face the earth at all times, thus there are still the
tugs that try to make it do so) – perhaps heating due to tidal forces is mostly
at the surface.
While I see no mechanism that would concentrate radioactives in small volumes
near the surface, I cannot be sure there are none, and they also might supply
small magma reservoirs. A radioactive meteorite buried under the surface,
maybe??
–Doug
Hi, Doug
> The presumed absence of a significant molten core…
I seem to recall an experiment conducted at about the close of the Apollo
program. On one of the missions, a small seismic detector was left behind.
On a subsequent mission, explosive charges were buried a good bit around the
moon from the seismometer. when the charges were touched off the moon 'rang
like a bell' in the words of one of the reseachers. The conclusion at the
time was that the moon's core is solid.
> … and they also might supply small magma reservoirs.
Hmmm, more research is indicated, when can we go? 😉
Regards, Guy
Hi, Guy, Tom, Adrian–
I found my copy of "The Meteorite & Tektite Collector's Handbook", (C)1991 by
Philip M. Bagnall. He mentions "studies of lunar material returned by the
Apollo program does [sic] not support a lunar origin for tektites"; we will
have to lock him in a room with the conductor of NASA study of Thai tektite
compositions which Adrian mentioned and see who comes out in the best shape.
Regarding volcanism on the moon, he mentions the "Some astronomers have
witnessed discoloration of certain lunar craters – the so-called Lunar
Transient Phenomenon (LTP) – which may be caused by degassing through fissures
in the Moon's crust as it opens under gravitational tidal forces, but this
reaction is a long way from full-blown volcanism." Actually, we do not need
"full-blown volcanism" to get tektites from the moon; if this degassing is
sudden and violent enough, even on a small scale, maybe it can fire off some
proto-tektites at lunar escape velocity. I gather the moon is short of
volatiles, so I am wondering whether a source for such gasses has been
observed.
–Doug