[meteorite-list] the biggest tektite ?

From: Zelimir Gabelica <Zelimir.Gabelica_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 10:07:43 +0200
Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.2.20070525091113.02751200_at_pop.univ-mulhouse.fr>

Hi Anne, Sterling, Norm, Aubrey, Dieter, all

Sterling, thanks so very much for your first compilation on world tektite
masses/sizes and for your further comments (in the mail that just arrived
and that I am copying heredown to complete this preliminary "debate").
The site related to vietnamese tektites is particularly informative.

Now here is my own information regarding tektites from Vietnam (sorry but I
preferred not to mention it before I read your own comments supposing I
could perhaps influence your thoughts/data)

I was extremely lucky to acquire very recently a "giant" (killer) tektite,
not from Dalat but from the Northern part of Vietnam.
It was brought to me 3 weeks ago by a friend prospector who spent weeks
through the whole country for a separate business but with a side mission
to possibly discover some tektite with "out of standard" characteristics.

That "killer'" is a "flat dumbbell"-like dish as described in the
vietnamese paper cited by Sterling, resembling the "sample with a painted
N? 30" on figure 2.
Its weight is perhaps what is the most surprising: 705.8 grams!
I did not check the density (yet).
It has a neat black clean, almost shiny and undamaged surface on both
sides, with a thin stripe crossing the "dish" in its middle, possibly
somewhat related to a particular Anda-type texture.

It was said to have been found in 2006 in a specific place, North from Hanoi.
I have got pics of the supplier with the "dish" in his hands and also have
a genuine label (text) in vietnamese characters giving further details on
how and where exactly it was found.
Its purchase price, also rather on the "killer" side, more reflects the
weight than the shape or morphology of the tektite, that are actually not
at all odd. Obviously the supplier was aware of its potential value...

I was hoping that this tektite could perhaps be the biggest from Vietnam or
perhaps even from "Indochina" (including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia,
Malaysia....and why not South China), obviously excluding the layered Muong
Nongs (for which I agree with Sterling for an over 12 kg reported record).
Only future will tell if it is so.

Through this post I wanted to encourage everybody to report further
interesting data on world tektites, raleted or not to their weight. And
perhaps we could build a weight compilation characterizing the biggest
tektites from every country or strewnfield. I believe this could be another
challenge of our list.

Again, warm thanks to all!

Cheers,

Zelimir


A 18:37 24/05/2007 -0700, Norm Lehrman a ?crit :
>Anne, Sterling, Zelimir & all,
>
>Hal Povenmire has a nice tabulation in his book
>"Tektites: a Cosmic Enigma" (2003).
>Here are a few additions from that list:
>
>Bohemian moldavites: 500 gms (Sorry Anne; not a
>contender)
>Moravian moldavites: 265.5 gms
>Java: 750 gms
>Georgia: 70.5 gms
>Bediasites: 200.8 gms
>Thailand: 456 gms
>
>in all cases not including Muong Nong types.
>
>The biggest remaining Rizalite in Futrell's collection
>991.7 gms.
>
>I have a bunch of Povenmire's 2003 revision at $20
>each if anyone is interested in acquiring one.
>
>Cheers,
>Norm
>http://Tektitesource.com
>
>
>--- Impactika at aol.com wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 5/24/2007 3:40:24 P.M. Mountain
> > Standard Time,
> > sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net writes:
> > Hi, Zelimir, List
> >
> > Just from searching the
> > internet, I compiled this list
> > of the Biggest Tektite (excluding
> > layered tektites) from:
> >
> > Australia.....................437 g.
> > Czechoslovakia..........258.5 g.
> > Ivory Coast................ 79 g.
> > Malaysia.....................464 g.
> > Philippines................1069 g.
> >
> > I couldn't find any mention
> > of the largest Vietnamite, but
> > here's a site with a study of 203
> > Vietnamese tektites:
> >
>_http://www.edamgaard.dk/Copy%20of%20VietnamTektites%20edj.htm_
> >
> >
>(http://www.edamgaard.dk/Copy%20of%20VietnamTektites%20edj.htm)
> >
> >
> > Sterling K. Webb
> >
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Very interesting, Sterling.
> >
> > And what is the largest Moldavite known?
> > I just acquired a big one, a nice tear-drop shape,
> > 6.5 cm long, 39 grams
> > exactly.
> > Am I in the running?
> >
> >
> > Anne M. Black
> > www.IMPACTIKA.com
> > IMPACTIKA at aol.com
> > President, I.M.C.A. Inc.
> > www.IMCA.cc
> >
A 01:04 25/05/2007 -0500, vous avez ?crit :
>Hi, All,
>
> I should have been more specific, but I tended to
>find results by country from their national geological
>surveys. The largest Moldavite is the 258.5 g one, found
>-- no surprise! -- in Moldavia, says the Check Geological
>Survey:
>http://nts1.cgu.cz/bulletin/contents/2002/vol77no4/04trnkafinal.pdf
>
> The largest Australite is 437 g, and the 79 g. Ivorite is
>the largest Ivorite from anywhere. The 464 g tektite from
>Malaysia is the largest non-layered one from that country,
>but I know) it's NOT the largest non-layered Indochinite.
>I found mention of a 250 g Vietnamese non-layered
>tektite but they did not claim it was the largest.
>
> I could not find the weight record for each and every
>type of Phillipinite, just the figure of 1069 g (some sources
>give the weight as 1070 g) for Phillipinites. I don't know
>the current record holder for Muong Nong tektites. Many
>kilos (12.8 kg?).
>
> I could not find a statement of the largest Bediasite or
>Georgiaite of all time. Scientific sources avoid size rank
>data except to give a size range of each type. Demonstrating
>that I am a lousy collector, I have a deep-groove Rizalite that's
>the size of a tennis ball, maybe 100-120 g, but I don't know the
>the exact weight. I never weighed it; whatever it is, Norm's got
>a heavier one (with deeper grooves and fancier ornamentation,
>and so forth).
>
> Indochinite splats get big. I've seen splatties that weighed a
>pound and a half. I would think "statistics" on Indochinites hard
>to establish as they are marketed in huge lots (up to a ton at a time)
>from so many countries by so many vendors who're mining those
>tens of millions of them, with many more tens of millions still
>underground (and no crater in sight).
>
> In most strewnfield locations (except possibly Indochina)
>the biggest, more spectacular specimens tend to be snapped up
>(and traded up) FIRST, just like the biggest gold nuggets and
>the biggest diamonds, when the field is identified as such, like
>this 71 kilo gold nugget from 1869:
>http://www.historyhill.com.au/Gold_-_The_Biggest_&_The_Best.html
>
>Sterling K. Webb

Prof. Zelimir Gabelica
Universit? de Haute Alsace
ENSCMu, Lab. GSEC,
3, Rue A. Werner,
F-68093 Mulhouse Cedex, France
Tel: +33 (0)3 89 33 68 94
Fax: +33 (0)3 89 33 68 15
Received on Fri 25 May 2007 04:07:43 AM PDT