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ImpactiteImpactite is rock created nearly instantaneously by the impact of a meteorite on sand (e.g., the Wabar impact site in the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia) or soil on Earth. At the Wabar site it has the appearance of chunks of coarsely laminar, bleached-white sandstone weighing up to 10 kg. The crude lamination is perpendicular to the propagation vector of the impact shockwave. Often the impactite is coated with material (sometimes called simply "glass") from the ejected "jet" of the impact process. At Wabar, this "glass" consists of about 90% local sand and 10% iron-nickel meteorite, and may have originally been at temperatures in excess of 10,000 degrees C.
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