| Impact Related Materials |
| When a meteorite weighs over about 100 tons, it will maintain much of it's cosmic velocity on impact. The meteorite will explode and a crater is formed. These violent impacts leave their impressions on other rocks as well. |
| Impactites: Impactites are terrestrial rocks that have been altered by the shock and heat of a large meteorite impact. Some impactites have been nearly completely melted and some have been fragmented and reassembled. The latter are referred to as "impact breccias". Some impactites will contain small amounts of the original meteorite making them slightly attracted to a magnet. |
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| Meteor Crater, Arizona, USA Impactite with meteorite Whole specimen |
| Monturaqui Crater, Atacama Desert, Chile Impactite with meteorite Whole specimen |
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| Sudbury Impact Site, Ontario, Canada Breccia and impact melt |
| Tektites: Tektites are terrestrial rock that has been completely melted by an impact, ejected into space by the force, and has returned to earth. They contain small traces of meteorite but they do not stick to magnets. Tektites often show characteristics similar to meteorites such as flowlines, regmaglypts and occationally orientation. |
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| Indochinite tektites, Vietnam |
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| Australite tektite, Australia |
| Moldavite tektite, Czechoslovakia |
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| Chinese tektite, Guandong Province, China |
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| Sudbury impact site, Ontario, Canada Shattercone |