Suevite is a rock consisting partly of melted material, typically forming a

breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of ...

containing

glass Glass is a non- crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenchin ...

and

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macro ...

or lithic fragments, formed during an

impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Imp ...

event. It forms part of a group of rock types and structures that are known as

impactite Impactite is rock created or modified by one or more impacts of a meteorite. Impactites are considered metamorphic rock, because their source materials were modified by the heat and pressure of the impact. On Earth, impactites consist primarily o ...

Name

The word "suevite" is derived from "Suevia",

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

name of

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

. It was suggested by Adolf Sauer in 1901.

Formation

Suevite is thought to form in and around impact craters by the

sintering Clinker nodules produced by sintering Sintering or frittage is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by pressure or heat without melting it to the point of liquefaction. Sintering happens as part of a manufacturing ...

of molten fragments together with unmelted clasts of the country rock. Rocks formed from more completely melted material found in the crater floor are known as '' tagamites''. Suevite is distinct from the

pseudotachylite Pseudotachylyte (sometimes written as pseudotachylite) is an extremely fine-grained to glassy, dark, cohesive rock occurring as veinsTrouw, R.A.J., C.W. Passchier, and D.J. Wiersma (2010) ''Atlas of Mylonites- and related microstructures.'' Spring ...

in an impact structure as the latter is thought to have formed by frictional effects within the crater floor and below the crater during the initial compression phase of the impact and the subsequent formation of the central uplift.

Occurrence

Suevite is one of the diagnostic rock-types for large impact structures. It has been described from many of the larger impact structures identified on earth. *

Nördlinger Ries The Nördlinger Ries is an impact crater and large circular depression in western Bavaria and eastern Baden-Württemberg. It is located north of the Danube in the district of Donau-Ries. The city of Nördlingen is located within the depression, a ...

Sudbury Basin The Sudbury Basin (), also known as Sudbury Structure or the Sudbury Nickel Irruptive, is a major geological structure in Ontario, Canada. It is the third-largest known impact crater or astrobleme on Earth, as well as one of the oldest. The ...

* Popigai impact structure *

Chicxulub crater The Chicxulub crater () is an impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is offshore near the community of Chicxulub, after which it is named. It was formed slightly over 66 million years ago when a large a ...

* Kara crater *

Azuara impact structure The Azuara impact structure is a structural feature of about diameter,Mikheeva, 2017 located in northeastern Spain, roughly south of Zaragoza. The name is attributed to the small town of Azuara located near the center of the structure. The fi ...

References

External links

Page on Suevites from website on Impact Structures by Kord Ernstson & Fernando Claudin
{{Impact cratering on Earth Impact event minerals

Name

Formation

Occurrence

See also

References

External links