Linda Nelson, age 11, of San Diego, California, for her question:
What really are tektites?
A generation ago, Maurice Maeterlinck of Belgium wrote a story of two starry eyed children who yearned for the Bluebird of Happiness. To find him they ventured afar into real and fanciful realms. Discouraged at last they returned home and of all things, there he was waiting there for them. In the more modern, down to earth tail of the tektite stones, you may detect an echo of this tender old tale of human endeavor.
Who knows when our ancient ancestors dreamed of voyaging through the spacious heavens. But such dreams seemed impossible. As late as World War II, it was usual to say that an overly ambitious project was as impossible as flying to the moon. Now all that is old hat. Men have visited the moon. At enormous expense of wealth and endeavor, they have brought back samples of rocks and dust from the lunar surface.
Before and during these mighty endeavors, geologists were studying strange stones called tektites right here on the earth. They are small glassy stones that measure half an inch to several inches. Their glossy colors range through dark browns and greens to jet black. As a rule, their shiny surfaces are pitted and grooved with scars. They are composed of the usual minerals found in the earth's crust. But their extraordinary shapes suggest that they have experienced unearthly adventures.
Tektites come in mini crystal balls and teardrops, in rods and buttons and dainty disks. Many are carved in ropy twirls and a few masterpieces are shaped like double ended dumbbells. They challenge earth scientists to explain how their everyday minerals became glassy gobs and what stupendous forces molded their symmetrical shapes.
Most experts agree that tektites were formed in cataclysmic collisions that melted masses of minerals and pelted pieces of the molten mixture. Obviously they were created by enormous heat and tossed around at high speed by tremendous forces. A dramatic event of this kind is known to occur from the stupendous impact of a major meteorite on the earth.
Many scientists still favor this theory to explain the tektites. After all, the strange stones are made of common earth type minerals. Also, they are found spread through large, though limited areas where major meteorites most likely fell in the remote past. This does indeed seem like a logical down to earth theory and it may be true.
However, other experts suspect that the explosions that created our tektites began when monster meteorites crashed on the moon. In some cases, these staggering impacts could have melted vast masses of lunar material and pelted the pieces far out into space. Some of the lunar fragments may have showered down on certain parts of the earth.
At present there is not enough evidence to prove either theory about the origin of tektites. But it would be amazing indeed if they really are lunar samples that arrived long ages before we dreamed of the Apollo Missions. Some of Europe's tektites have been there for 15 million years. And some of ours in North America were created 30 million years ago.