Libyan desert glass
Meteorite, tektite, or impactite
Also called LDG, Great Sand Sea glass, and Libyan gold tektite
About it
Pale yellow, nearly pure silica glass from the Great Sand Sea of western Egypt, about 29 million years old, thought to come from an impact or airburst. A carved piece forms the scarab on a pectoral of Tutankhamun.
- Type
- Meteorite, tektite, or impactite (impactite)
- Group
- Impact glass
- Specific gravity
- 2.2–2.25
- Lustre
- vitreous (glassy)
- Colours
- pale yellow, greenish yellow, colourless, milky white
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- none; conchoidal fracture
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.