ASTEROID IMPACT BRECCIA (SUEVITE) - Germany (large specimen)

ASTEROID IMPACT BRECCIA

(Large specimen)

From the Ries Crater, Germany
 
15 million years old
 
This rock, known as suevite, consists of glass-like fragments and pulverised rock created by the immense pressures and temperatures associated with the impact of a giant asteroid. The rock shows clear evidence of the violence of the event.  This example is from the 1 km. diameter asteroid that impacted on southern Germany about 15 million years ago.
 
The impact instantaneously shattered and melted the surface rocks to a depth of several kilometres.  Within one tenth of a second the entire asteroid and much of the adjacent landscape vaporised in temperatures of over 10,000 degrees Centigrade. 

A cloud of vapour and blazing molten material was immediately ejected to blanket the surrounding countryside.  Suevite is almost identical to the impact breccias brought back from the surface of the Moon by Apollo astronauts.