Gunnison Crater Tektites, Colorado Options

[CP]

We have a discoverer in our midst folks! With over 2 decades of field experience in prospecting/mining across several different mineral and gem arenas including diamonds, gold, etc. We are all very lucky to not only have his personal participation and knowledge shared here, but we are also able to see first hand what new discoveries can produce!
This is a very rare treat these days in my honest opinion. My grandfather was one of the men who discovered jade in Wyoming (mid 1930's) and I wish very much I would have had known him better and his personal experiences/history of discovery times!

So lets get on with the information (there will be lots)
Johnny (Astrobleme) through many exhausting hours of work I'm sure, discovered an ancient crater formation here in Colorado around Gunnison. Now named the Gunnison crater, and has produced some very interesting tektites. Being part of Johnny's discovery I would imagine they helped prove out his crater theroy. (feel free to correct me if wrong Johnny) Tektite origin itself has been quite a discussion over years past and still is, but they are very very "dry" rocks. The pressure and heat that creates them are mind boggling!

Here is a link to the Gunnison Country Times article / news release.

Recently Johnny was looking for lapidary artists to work some tektites and we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to work some into cabochons and jewelry. We are very happy to say that we (Denise and myself) got to be the first lapidary artists to work any of these tektites.
While I was cutting the slices to use for cabochons I noticed there were some metal inclusions which Johnny later examined under magnification and...........well I'll let him tell you about the possible new information found. It's very exciting!

Here are a few pics to go along with this thread which I'm sure will be one to keep up on for the future!
These 2 pics (courtesy of Johnny) show arial views of the crater.





This is a pic of some rough pieces you all may recognize from the "what's this #28" thread.


After getting his cabochons in hand he could examine them a bit more closely and sent us these 2 pics too share with everyone.





All this hypervelocity impact discussion has my mind goin' for sure!!

More pics of the finished pieces made from these to follow.........
CP

[CP]

Very cool news Johnny and I for one am very much looking forward to those results and what will be learned from them.
I had found an article with a study about pressure's and what kind this event could create but now I'm not able to find it again...... But if I remember the numbers right it was somewhere between 100 or 1000 times the pressure created at ground zero of a nuclear blast! I'll keep looking for that article.
The pressure and heat that is instantly created can actually vaporize rock and dry out any H2O with the material!

So the tektites pictured in this thread were involved within the actual impact crater itself and or the immediate fall back rim formation correct?

Can't wait to hear/read some more.

CP

[ASTROBLEME]

So the tektites pictured in this thread were involved within the actual impact crater itself and or the immediate fall back rim formation correct?

CP

Dear CP:

You are correct in your understanding that these tektites were trapped by "fall back" of the excavated rock back into the crater after impact. The tektite is preserved within pieces of impact melt rock and the metallic fragments appear to be found only within the melt rather than inside the tektite.

Due to the ancient age of the Gunnison Crater, everything outside the remnant rim exposures is eroded away. I haven't yet been able to locate any impact melt rock or tektite occurring outside of the crater.

Sincerely,

ASTROBLEME