Darwin glass
Darwin glass is a natural impact glass found in Tasmania, formed by the impact that made Darwin Crater.
Darwin glass is a natural glass found over an area of about 400 square kilometres in western Tasmania, Australia. It ranges from white to green to black and occurs as twisted, frothy fragments, often full of bubbles.
It is associated with Darwin Crater, a structure about 1.2 kilometres across hidden in rainforest. Dating suggests the glass and crater formed roughly 800,000 years ago. The glass is made mostly of melted local rock, including quartzite and slate, and contains traces of iron-nickel from the impactor.
Aboriginal Tasmanians collected and used Darwin glass to make sharp tools, and it has been found at archaeological sites far from the crater. Unlike tektites, which are thrown long distances from their crater, Darwin glass was spread only over a relatively small area. It is a good example of how impact glasses record events and became part of human history.
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