Libyan Desert Glass

An impact-melt-rock (impact glass) from a strewnfield in the Western Desert of Egypt. The impact origin is disputed, however, by some scientists. The impact site has not been located yet, although there is clear evidence an impact happened (e.g., Kleinmann et al., 2001). In 2013, Kramers et al. published analyses of a small black rock and proposed it to be the remnant of a cometary nucleus fragment that impacted after incorporating gases from the atmosphere.

The major component of Libyan Desert Glass is almost pure molten silica glass, Lechatelierite.

The glass was discovered by the international scientific community in 1932, but it had been used by the Ancient Egyptians as a gemstone.

"The hottest naturally occurring silica". Bears high-temperature (>1350 °C) oscillatory zoned β-cristobalite of magmatic origin.