Rock consisting partly of melted material formed during an impact event
Suevite is a
rock consisting partly of melted material, typically forming a
breccia containing
glass and
crystal or
lithic fragments, formed during an
impact event. It forms part of a group of rock types and structures that are known as
impactites.
Name
The word "suevite" is derived from "Suevia",
Latin name of
Swabia. It was suggested by
Adolf Sauer in 1901.[1][2]
Formation
Suevite is thought to form in and around impact craters by the
sintering 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 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.[3]
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.
^French, B.M. 1998.
Traces of Catastrophe, A handbook of shock-metamorphic effects in terrestrial meteorite impact structures, Lunar and Planetary Institute
Chapter 5. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2011-06-22.