moldavite

Moldavite () is a forest green, olive green or blue greenish vitreous silica projectile glass formed by a meteorite impact in southern Germany (Nördlinger Ries Crater) that occurred about 15 million years ago. It is a type of tektite and a gemstone. Material ejected from the impact crater includes moldavite, which was strewn across parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Key facts

Mineral.name: Moldavite
Mineral.category: Glass
Mineral.image: Moldavite_No.2.jpg
Mineral.caption: Moldavite from Dobrkovská Lhotka
Mineral.formula: SiO2(+Al2O3)
Mineral.color: Olive green
Mineral.system: Amorphous
Mineral.mohs: 5.5 to 7
Mineral.luster: Vitreous
Mineral.refractive: 1.48 to 1.54
Mineral.opticalprop: Isotropic
Mineral.birefringence: None
Mineral.dispersion: None
Mineral.pleochroism: Absent
Mineral.gravity: 2.32 to 2.38
Mineral.diaphaneity: Opaque, translucent, transparent

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image: Moldavite Besednice.jpg

Show 1 more fact

Commons category: Moldavite

Sources (1)

wikidata.org

via Wikidata · CC0

~7 min read

Article

9 sections

Contents

Early studies
Origin
Properties
Use
Presentation
Gallery
References
Further reading
External links

==Early studies== Moldavite was introduced to the scientific public for the first time in 1786 as "chrysolites" from Týn nad Vltavou in a lecture by Josef Mayer of Prague University, read at a meeting of the Bohemian Scientific Society (Mayer 1788). Zippe (1836) first used the term "moldavite", derived from the Vltava (Moldau) river in Bohemia (the Czech Republic), from where the first described pieces came.