Libyan Desert Glass is found widely scattered over an area 130 km north to south by 53 km east to west. The Libyan Desert of Egypt is one of Earth's most remote and inhospitable regions. Uninhabited, windblown and foreboding, the Sand Sea, near the Gilf Kebir Plateau, was nonetheless the site of a remarkable discovery in 1932. After the 1932 discovery of Libyan Desert Glass, only two other expeditions (both of the 1930's) were undertaken to the location until 1971. This latter exploration involved three scientists stopping over for only two hours and collecting some 24 samples of the glass. During this brief visit, the expedition accidentally found the site of a forced landing of an Egyptian aircraft with the remains of nine men. The failure of Egyptian authorities to find the downed airplane for over three years is solemn validation of the remoteness of this arid region. In light of the foregoing, it is perhaps remarkable that a greater abundance of Libyan Desert Glass has been made available recently for collections and study than at any time since its discovery 65 years ago. Libyan Desert Glass is classified by most meteoriticists with the group of curious natural glasses known as tektites. In 1900, Professor Franz E. Suess of Vienna coined the term tektite from the Greek tektos meaning "melted or molten." Tektites are compositionally restricted, high silica, natural glasses distinguishably different from other, volcanically derived, natural glasses. Tektites range in size from microscopic (less than 1mm) to macroscopic weighing many kilograms. The earliest written records come from mid-10th century China referring to the black, shiny objects found after rainstorms as lei-gong-mo, "inkstones of the thunder-god". Australian Aborigines called Australites ooga, "staring eyes". The origin and source of tektites remains a mystery. In relation to all other tektite groups, Libyan Desert Glass exhibits a noteworthy number of unique attributes. Lowest refractive index: 1.4616 Lowest specific gravity: 2.21 Highest silica content: 98% Highest lechatelierite particles: fused quartz Highest water content: 0.064% Highest viscosity: almost 6X greater than Australites at the same temperature Other unique attributes: Color, Bubble types: 100% of included bubbles are lenticular or irregular. ..There is no evidence whatsoever, of atmospheric aerodynamic shaping and it is therefore presumed that Libyan Desert Glass formed as a melt sheet of some sort, possibly by meteoritic impact some 28.5 millions years ago. Recent French studies concluded that meteoric elements in the glass, of almost chondritic proportions, "points to an impact origin". Interestingly, the inclusion of the high number of lechatelierite (fused quartz) particles in Libyan Desert Glass also points to an extremely high, up to 1700 C, formation temperature. Impacts of large bodies at high velocity are certainly capable of creating such high temperatures. But, the central issue in determining the impact origin of tektites remains, that is, how to transform a mass of crushed rock into a homogeneous and relatively bubble free liquid which rapidly cools to a glass. Even the commercial production of glass takes many hours to relieve the melt of its volatile components. No partially melted material, or target rock inclusions, have ever been found in Libyan Desert Glass. http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf064/sf064g09.htm http://www.aerolite.org/impactites.htm http://www.amonline.net.au/geoscience/tektites/record_impactite.cfm?id=5
Yep , Patrick Clayton found them in Egypt in 1932 ...... I remember to have read in newspapers many, many years ago , that radioactive stones were found in the desert of Libya together with glass ........some of them found before atomic bombs were invented , so they ruled out nuclear explosions , but the scientists were still puzzled in those days .......... Meteor impact makes sense ......
No ..... been there myself ........never rains ...... last big rainfall in the 1920´s ........ talked with many people , no lightnings ever .......... the people there even build their houses of mud/sand/salt blocks ....that dissappear in rain ... Then again climate could have been different thousands of years ago ........ Also, does lightning create radioactive isotopes ...???
There is lightning in the desert, even if it is rare. Since fulgurites are real glasses, they are very resistant to weathering and are usually well preserved for a long period of time. For this reason they are used as paleoenvironmental indicators. For example, many fulgurites are found in the Sahara desert, where presently there is little lightning activity, confirming that very different conditions existed in this region in prehistoric times. A fossil fulgurite thought to be 250 million years old has been reported.
You do have a point , Spidergoat ............ Climate has probably changed .... Still, I haven´t heard of radioactive isotopes created by lightning ....
The Mahabarata : “The heavens cried out, the earth bellowed an answer, lightening flashed forth, fire flamed upwards, it rained down death. The brightness vanished, the fire was extinguished. Everyone who was struck by the lightening was turned to ashes”. And again from the same source: “It was a ghastly sight to see. The corpses of the fallen were so mutilated they no longer looked like human beings. Never before have we seen such an awful weapon, and never before have we heard of such a weapon”. the Drona Parva: “Encompassed by them (bowmen)…Bhisma smiting the while and uttering a leonine roar, took up and hurled at them with great force a fierce mace of destruction of hostile ranks. The mace of adamantine strength, hurled like Indra’s thunder by Indra himself, crushed, O King, thy soldiers in battle. And it seemed to fill…the whole earth with a loud noise. And blazing forth in splendour, that fierce mace inspired thy sons with fear. Beholding that mace of impetuous course and endowed with lightening flashes coursing towards them, thy warriors fled away uttering frightful cries. And at the unbelievable sound …of that fiery mace, many men fell down where they stood and many car (vimana or flying vehicle) warriors also fell down from their cars.”
In his book Secrets of the Lost Races writer Rene Noorbergen talks of charred ruins to be found between the River Ganges in India and the mountains of Rajamahal. "The walls have been glazed, corroded, and split by tremendous heat. Within several of the buildings that remain standing even the surfaces of the stone furniture have been vitrified: melted then crystallised. No natural burning flame or volcanic eruption could have produced heat intense enough to cause this phenomenon. Only the heat released through atomic energy could have done this damage"! Also in this same region a human body was discovered with a radioactivity "which was fifty times above the normal level".
In 1909 when academics were first beginning to grasp the awesome power of the atom, physicist Frederick Soddy wrote in his Interpretation of Radium: "I believe that there have been civilisations in the past that were familiar with atomic energy, and that by misusing it they were totally destroyed." Remarkably Robert Oppenheimer the chief of the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic device - that we know of - watched the test explosion rise up in a vast mushroom cloud and felt moved to quote from ancient Sanskrit: " I am become death, the destroyer of worlds"! Perhaps Oppenheimer, more than anyone, realised that right then and there, at that very moment, man had become reacquainted with a piece of his history that had once cost him so dearly! The weapon of a "million suns" was again within his possession!
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/13920_stones.html http://s8int.com/atomic1.html I don't know someday scientists might really want to look at these theories...maybe it's just me.
Don´t know about alleged nukes in ancient time (highly unlikely), but a levitating stone of Shivapur - my ass ........ 11 men lifting a 55 kg stone with a finger = 5 kg for each ....no problem .... http://www.margaretdeefholts.com/levitatingstone-shivapur.html please notice some can carry 323 kg in one finger : http://recordholders.org/en/events/fl98.html
Read the article carefully. The author says that the stone weighed 200 pounds. That's about 91 kilograms. It also describes how the author tried different things, including, and I was hoping for this, having 12 men attempt to lift it.
According to Wikipedia, the Sahara has only been the desert we know since 2500BCE. Predynastic Egyptians grazed cattle there. Between 8000 and 6000BCE it had monsoons. The last time it was a desert like this was 11,000BCE. Check out the Sahara Pump Theory.
I couldn't have been a meteor because there isn't any signs of craters. An ancient nuclear catastrophy is the only possible answer!
The only other thing, I could personally think of would be a huge/powerful solar flare or something like that. Frankly the "evidence" points to atomic or equivalent energy release. Scientists are afraid to admit that and lose all credibility. I don't know why, it's no big deal. Humans have been "around" in present form for at least 80-100,000 years - homo sapian sapain. We might have had even enough time to "go 'round the rosie' three, four....five times? Who knows. It's hard to determine what happened even 1000 years ago, let alone 10000.
Actually it isn't found too far from the (suggested) Kebira crater. Look about 3/4 of the way down this page for the libya desert glass area. You can see both the crater and the glass area on this map.
I was referring to the link from N-fan ....it clearly states the weight as 55 kg (for eleven men) and 41 kg (for nine men)......... investigated by scientists ...hm,hmm... The link I provided is from a tourist claiming one place that it weighs 200 pounds , but under the picture of the stone it says : 70 kg ......... I interpret that as, she has NO clue about the real weight ........
