Bediasite

Bediasite is a form or type of tektite. It originates in an area in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas centered around the small town of Bedias which is about 60 miles north-north-west of Houston. They are found in about nine Texas Counties in an area of over 7000 square miles. The largest specimen ever found is just over 200 grams.

Virgil Barnes was one of the first scientists to study Bediasites in depth. The first identified Bediasite was brought to the University of Texas at Austin in 1936 by George D. Ramsey and was identified by Virgil Barnes. ["Contributions" 477.]

Bediasites are part of the 34-million-year-old North American strewnfield coming from the Chesapeake Bay impact crater. [Koeberl 1265.] Two strewnfields and tektite groups are associated with this impact: the black Bediasites in Texas and the green Georgiaites in Georgia. [Ridpath 49.]

Notes

Bibliography

*(1938). "Contributions to Geology". University Of Texas, Austin.
*Koeberl, Christian, et. al (1996). "Impact Origin of the Chesapeake Bay Structure and the Source of the North American Tektites." "Science" 271 (1996).
*Ridpath, Ian, ed. (1997). "Encyclopedia of Astronomy". Oxford: Oxford University Press.