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.


Atacamaite - Chile - 0.649 grams


Atacamaite - Chile - 0.57 grams


Atacamaite - Chile - 0.451 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.553 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.417 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.412 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.493 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.382 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.49 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.284 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.589 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.586 grams

Atacamaite - Chile - 0.451 grams
