Fission track ages of North American tektites

Fission track ages of North American tektites from Texas, Georgia and Martha's vineyard range widely between 0.8 my and 34.2 my with the tektites from Georgia giving the lowest ages. Size studies of the fission track etch pits reveal the thermal history of each individual tektite resulting in the partial loss of tracks. Therefore, the measured fission track ages can be understood as thermally lowered.

Based on annealing experiments, correction factors for the thermally lowered fission track ages are found. The weighted mean of the corrected fission track ages is 34.9 my for the bediasites and the Martha's Vineyard tektite. On the other hand, the corrected fission track ages of the Georgia tektites are much lower resulting from a more complex thermal history.

It may now be stated that North American tektites and Libyan Desert glasses cannot have had a simultaneous origin.