Fulgurite morphology: a classification scheme and clues to formation

Pasek, Matthew A.; Block, Kristin; Pasek, Virginia D.

doi:10.1007/s00410-012-0753-5

Cited by 92 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The higher levels of Rb, Th, and K 2 O, which were attributed to crustal contamination, may also be due to the mixed boulder types of the volcanogenic conglomerate. Further, the composition of fulgurites may be modified to varying degree by vaporisation (Pasek et al 2012). Therefore, we disagree with the interpretation of Kerr et al (2010a) that the Tor Zawar events were "magmatic eruptions of basaltic magma" derived from mantle; instead they were surface melting events related with incidents of lightning, which produced fulgurite.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 93%

“…Fulgurites have been broadly classified as sand-type, comprising hollow tubes of fused sand grains where lightning struck dunes or beach sand (Anderson 1925;Petty 1936;Galliot 1980;Mohling 2004); and rock-type, typified as a thin fusion crust of glass with or without tubules, where lightning struck rock outcrops (Purdom 1966;Libby 1986). A more detailed classification was provided by Pasek et al (2012), who distinguished 4 main types of fulgurites (type I are sand fulgurite; type II are clay fulgurites; type III are caliche fulgurites, and type IV are rock fulgurites) representing the variation in fulgurite morphology depending on substrate chemistry and texture. Most of the specimens of fulgurites are lustrous black glass, but fulgurites of other colours may be present.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lightning, when strikes the outcrop, has enough energy to heat and partially melt rocks of even basaltic composition. The formation of fulgurites may result in explosive extrusions of molten rock (Manimaran et al 2001;Bhattacharyya et al 2002;Pasek et al 2012). Martin-Crespo et al (2009) reported indications of magmatic flow in a fulgurite from Portugal, but formation of flow structures in larger volumes of molten rock has so far not been reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Occurrences of rock-fulgurites associated with steel pylons of the overhead electric transmission line at Tor Zawar, Ziarat District and Jang Tor Ghar, Muslim Bagh, Pakistan

KASSI¹,

KASI²,

FRIIS³

et al. 2013

Turkish J Earth Sci

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Occurrences of rock-fulgurites associated with steel pylons of the overhead electric transmission line at Tor Zawar, Ziarat District and Jang Tor Ghar, Muslim Bagh, Pakistan

KASSI¹,

KASI²,

FRIIS³

et al. 2013

Turkish J Earth Sci

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“…The percentage of Fe, Ni, and P in each sample were determined using metal standards and these values were used to determine empirical formulas of the samples. 18 X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS data were obtained using a Thermo Scientific K-Alpha analytical XPS system and the vacuum pressure during the experiments was maintained at approximately 7 Â 10 À8 Torr.…”

Section: Materials and Surface Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notable exceptions are the phosphides recently discovered near the Dead Sea and iron phosphide in fulgurites. [16][17][18] Together, these minerals probably account for very little of the total surficial P on the earth, thus meteoritic sources are likely more important for providing phosphide minerals to geologic environments. Meteoritic sources of P may have been an important source due to their high reactivity and high flux on the early earth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of the surface of the mineral schreibersite in prebiotic chemistry

Cruz

Qasim

Abbott-Lyon

et al. 2016

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.

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aWe present a study of the reactions of the meteoritic mineral schreibersite (Fe,Ni) 3 P, focusing primarily on surface chemistry and prebiotic phosphorylation. In this work, a synthetic analogue of the mineral was synthesized by mixing stoichiometric proportions of elemental iron, nickel and phosphorus and heating in a tube furnace at 820 1C for approximately 235 hours under argon or under vacuum, a modification of the method of Skála and Drábek (2002). Once synthesized, the schreibersite was characterized to confirm the identity of the product as well as to elucidate the oxidation processes affecting the surface. In addition to characterization of the solid product, this schreibersite was reacted with water or with organic solutes in a choline chloride-urea deep eutectic mixture, to constrain potential prebiotic products. Major inorganic solutes produced by reaction of water include orthophosphate, phosphite, pyrophosphate and hypophosphate consistent with prior work on Fe 3 P corrosion. Additionally, schreibersite corrodes in water and dries down to form a deep eutectic solution, generating phosphorylated products, in this case phosphocholine, using this synthesized schreibersite.

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Generation of shock lamellae and melting in rocks by lightning‐induced shock waves and electrical heating

Chen

Elmi

Goldsby

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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The very rapid energy release from impact events, such as those resulting from lightning strikes or meteorites, can drive a variety of physical and chemical processes which alter rocks and result in the formation of natural glasses (i.e., fulgurites and tektites). Fulgurite is the vitrified soil, sand, or rock resulting from lightning strikes. A thunderbolt is associated with air temperatures of up to 105 K, which can heat rocks to >2000 K within tens of microseconds. The rapid fusing and subsequent quenching of the surface of the rock leaves a distinctive, thin, garbled coating composed of a glassy to fine‐grained porous material. Previous studies on rock fulgurites found planar deformation features in quartz crystals within the target rock substrate, evidence of strong shock waves during fulgurite formation. In this paper, we simulated the shock pressure and temperature caused by an idealized lightning impact on rocks and compared the model results with observations on rock fulgurites from the literature. Our model results indicate that a lightning strike can cause >7 GPa pressure on the rock surface, generate a layer of fulgurite (of radius ∼9 cm), and leave a burned region (of radius ∼11 cm). The fulgurites found on rock surfaces share many features with sand fulgurites, but their spatial distribution is completely different, as sand fulgurites are hollow tube structures. Our study on rock fulgurites provides an indirect constraint on the energy of a lightning event and also demonstrates that the presence of shock features in rocks cannot be taken as unequivocal evidence for impact events.

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Fulgurite morphology: a classification scheme and clues to formation

Cited by 92 publications

References 34 publications

Occurrences of rock-fulgurites associated with steel pylons of the overhead electric transmission line at Tor Zawar, Ziarat District and Jang Tor Ghar, Muslim Bagh, Pakistan

Occurrences of rock-fulgurites associated with steel pylons of the overhead electric transmission line at Tor Zawar, Ziarat District and Jang Tor Ghar, Muslim Bagh, Pakistan

The evolution of the surface of the mineral schreibersite in prebiotic chemistry

Generation of shock lamellae and melting in rocks by lightning‐induced shock waves and electrical heating

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