Microcrystals of coesite and stishovite were discovered as inclusions in amorphous silica grains in shocked melt pockets of a lunar meteorite Asuka-881757 by micro-Raman spectrometry, scanning ...

University of Cambridge provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK. The Barringer meteor crater is an iconic Arizona landmark, more than 1km wide and 170 metres deep, left behind by a massive ...

Change of lattice volume during heating to 1300ºC at 23 GPa. Hydrous stishovite crystalized at 500ºC showed large lattice volume, whereas the lattice volume after dehydration by subsequent heating was ...

Scientists used high-power laser beams to simulate the shock effects of a meteorite impact in silica, one of the most abundant materials in the Earth’s crust. They observed, for the first time, its ...

Stishovite has the same chemical formula as silica quartz (SiO 2) but it has much higher density. While SiO 2 is abundant on Earth's crust, it is also a major component of basalt, a type of igneous ...

A simulated visual representation of the structural transition from coesite to post-stishovite. The silicon atoms (blue spheres) surrounded by four oxygen atoms (red spheres) are shown as blue ...

When sand is put through extreme conditions of heat or pressure, it turns into glass. Typically this happens inside workshops or factories, but it can also happen naturally in certain rare conditions.

Dec. 17 (UPI) --Most of what scientists know about Earth's water cycle involves processes -- evaporation, condensation and precipitation -- happening above the planet's crust. But new research ...