Australasian tektites
Australasian tektites are natural glass objects scattered across a tenth of Earth's surface by an impact about 788,000 years ago.
Australasian tektites form the largest and youngest strewn field of tektites known. They are found across Southeast Asia, southern China, Australia and in deep-sea sediments of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, covering roughly a tenth of Earth's surface. They include indochinites, from Indochina, and australites, from Australia, some of which have aerodynamic button shapes.
They formed about 788,000 years ago, when an impact melted surface rock and flung it high above the atmosphere. Some droplets fell back and were reheated during re-entry, shaping australites into flanged buttons.
The source crater has not been confirmed, despite the young age. Many researchers favour southern Laos, where in 2020 a possible buried crater was proposed beneath the Bolaven volcanic plateau, about 17 by 13 kilometres. Others argue for sites elsewhere in Indochina. Australasian tektites are not meteorites, but they are part of the story of impacts on Earth.
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