Coesite from the Lake Wanapitei crater,Ontario

Glacial float from Lake Wanapitei, Ontario (latitude 46° 44.7′N, longitude 80° 44.6′W), which has an approximately circular central basin 8.6 km in diameter, includes breccias and glassy rocks containing abundant evidence of shock metamorphism. One glass-rich boulder, a strongly shocked feldspathic quartzite, contains coesite in clasts of diaplectic silica glass (refractive index 1.4605±0.0005) held in a matrix of mixed vesicular glasses including alkali feldspar glass. This association is indicative of shock pressure of 425–500 kbar, and is additional strong evidence supporting a hypervelocity impact origin for the basin.