Tomasz Brachaniec, Krzysztof Szopa and Łukasz Karwowski

Department of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland

We report the first occurrence of moldavites in Poland. This discovery confirms the hypothesis that moldavites could have been distributed up to 500 km from the Ries crater in Germany. The tektites were reworked from Middle Miocene sediments and redeposited in Late Miocene (Pannonian) fluvial deposits of the Gozdnicka Formation in Lower Silesia. The Polish moldavites are represented by nine (<8 mm) fragments with a total of 0.471 g. The lack of the autochthonous tektites indicates that tektites investigated here had to be redeposited in a fluvial environment, probably from the Lusatian area. The chemical composition of the Polish moldavites plots in the same area with those from other localities.

Reference
Brachaniec T, Szopa K and Karwowski Ł  (in press) Discovery of the most distal Ries tektites found in Lower Silesia, southwestern Poland. Meteoritics & Planetary Science
[doi:10.1111/maps.12311]
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

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