Description
Impactite (or impact glass) is rock created or modified by the impact of a meteorite. Impactite includes shock-metamorphosed target rocks, melts (suevites), and mixtures of the two, as well as sedimentary rocks with significant impact-derived components (shocked mineral grains, tektites, anomalous geochemical signatures, etc.). In June 2015, NASA reported the detection of impact glass on Mars. Such material may contain preserved signs of ancient life—if life existed. When a meteor strikes a planet's surface, the energy released by the impact can melt rock and soil into a liquid. As the liquid cools and rapidly hardens into a solid, the impact glass forms before the atoms have time to arrange themselves into a crystal lattice. Impact glass is dark brown, almost black, and partially transparent.
