• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.181-191
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• 2007

The gemological charateristics of Gwangdong tektites and Baikdusan obsidians were investigated, using microscopy, density and refractive index measurements, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass spectrometry, X-ray powder diffraction, and electron microprobe analysis. The Gwangdong tektites and Baikdusan obsidians are both black in colour and slightly trans-lucent with various shades of brown when cut into a few mm thick. Both the materials yield conchoidal fracture on broken surface. The tektites occur as tear-drop shapes, ranging from 4 to 10 cm long, and in spheres, from 3 to 5 cm in diameter. On the surface numerous shallow pits up to 3 mm in diameter are present. Mohs' hardness and specific gravity are 5 to 5.5 and 2.66, respectively. The tektites are singly refractive, with an refractive index of 1.51. Numerous spherical air bubbles are randomly scattered throughout the tektites, and silica-rich glass inclusions are occasionally seen. X-ray powder diffraction analysis verifies that they are non-crystalline. The Baikdusan obsidians show very similar properties to those of the Gwangdong tektites, especially in hardness, amorphous nature and fracture. Nevertheless, the Baikdusan obsidian can readily be distinguished from the Gwangdong tektites by refractive index ($1.49{\sim}1.50$), specific gravity (2.67 to 2.68), and inclusions (absence of bubbles and presence of sanidine and magnetite crystals).

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.281-295
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• 2017

We determined chemical compositions like abundance of major and trace elements, Sr and Nd isotope compositions for two tektites from the Thailand and Vietnam. Their chemical compositions are similar to each other, and seem to be similar to those of PAAS (Post Archean Australian Shale) rather than upper continental crust. In particular, primitive mantle-normalized spider diagrams and chondrite-normalized REE patterns for two tektites are the same, suggesting that they might be derived from the same source material. The $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ and $^{143}Nd/^{144}Nd$ ratios from Thailand tektite are $0.718870{\pm}0.000008(2{\sigma}_m)$ and $0.512024{\pm}0.000012(2{\sigma}_m)$, respectively, and those from Vietnam are $0.717022{\pm}0.000008(2{\sigma}_m)$ and $0.511986{\pm}0.000013(2{\sigma}_m)$, respectively. The $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ and $^{143}Nd/^{144}Nd$ ratios from Thailand tektite are slightly enriched than those of Vietnam tektite. $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratios from the Vietnam and Thai tektites were plotted on the range of Australasian tektites reported previously. $^{143}Nd/^{144}Nd$ ratio of Vietnam tektite from this study was lower than the range of $^{143}Nd/^{144}Nd$ ratio from the Australasian tektite reported previously whereas that of Thai tektite was included in the range of $^{143}Nd/^{144}Nd$ ratio from the Australasian tektite. The geochemical characteristics from two tektites in this study indicate that they may be derived from the very similar source materials.