Atacamaities - Chile

Atacamaites are black coloured impact glasses obtained from the Atacama Desert in Chile, South America. They were deposited relatively close to the impact site, which is currently unknown. 

The morphology of atacamaite ranges from bulbous to elongated, rainbow-shaped, dumbbell-shaped to irregular. They are close in composition to dacite, a type of volcanic rock. The chemical composition of atacamite indicates that it is also composed of some meteoritic material. The impacted object was probably iron of the IIAB group (the other meteorite types are rock and rock-iron). Fission-track dating indicates that the impact occurred in the late Miocene, about 7.83 million years ago.

Location: the Atacamaite Strewn Field, east of the town of Paposo and southeast of the town of Antofagasta, Atacama Desert, northern Chile.