Mysterious yellow glass in Egyptian desert used on a pendant by King Tut was created when an asteroid struck the Earth
- Glass found in the Egyptian desert was created by a meteorite impact
- It was originally thought that the glass was caused by an atmospheric airburst
- Researchers examined grains of the mineral zircon in samples of the glass
- Zircons in the glass preserved evidence of the former presence of a high-pressure mineral named reidite, which only forms during a meteorite impact
Glass found in the Egyptian desert was created by a meteorite impact around 29 million years ago, unravelling a riddle almost a century in the making.
Researchers believe that the origin of the so-called Libyan Desert Glass scattered across the Saharan desert in Egypt and Libya formed when an asteroid exploded in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Glass forms naturally when molten material cools so quickly that the molecules can't settle into an ordered structure, like a crystal.
The glass has been found in ancient jewellery, including a scarab carved from the material which features in pectoral jewellery buried beside Tutankhamun.
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Glass found in the Egyptian desert was created by a meteorite impact around 29 million years ago, unravelling a riddle almost a century in the making. Researchers believe that the origin of the so-called Libyan Desert Glass scattered across the Saharan desert in Egypt
Previous studies have claimed that the tiny greenish-yellow fragments were caused by an atmospheric air burst when asteroids, or Near Earth Objects, explode and shoot particles through the Earth's atmosphere.
They say that the resulting airblast would have washed over the Egyptian desert, dumping vast amounts of heat into the sand.
The researchers, from Curtin University in Australia, examined the tiny grains of the mineral zircon in samples of the glass, which is found over several thousand square kilometres in western Egypt.
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Zircons in the glass preserved evidence of the former presence of a high-pressure mineral named reidite, which only forms during a meteorite impact.
'It has been a topic of ongoing debate as to whether the glass formed during meteorite impact, or during an airburst,' said Aaron Cavosie, from Curtin University, who led the study.
'Both meteorite impacts and airbursts can cause melting, however, only meteorite impacts create shock waves that form high-pressure minerals.'
Mr Cavosie said that finding evidence of former reidite confirms it was created as the result of a meteorite impact.
The idea that the glass may have formed during a large atmospheric airburst gained popularity after a dramatic airburst over Russia in 2013.
Glass forms naturally when molten material cools so quickly that the molecules can't settle into an ordered structure, like a crystal. The glass has been found in ancient jewellery, including a scarab carved from the material which features in pectoral jewellery buried beside Tutankhamun
Previous studies have claimed that the tiny greenish-yellow fragments were caused by an atmospheric air burst when asteroids, or Near Earth Objects, explode and shoot particles through the Earth's atmosphere. Pictured, the Coffinette for the Viscera of Tutankhamun
The researchers, from Curtin University in Australia, examined the tiny grains of the mineral zircon in samples of the glass, which is found over several thousand square kilometres in western Egypt
The airburst caused extensive property damage and injury to humans but did not cause surface materials to melt.
'Previous models suggested that Libyan desert glass represented a large, 100-megatonnes (Mt) class airburst, but our results show this is not the case,' Mr Cavosie said.
'Meteorite impacts are catastrophic events, but they are not common.
'Airbursts happen more frequently, but we now know not to expect a Libyan desert glass-forming event in the near future, which is cause for some comfort,' he said.
The findings could help scientists understand the possible threat posed by potential asteroid strikes.
The findings were published in the journal Geology.
WHO WAS KING TUTANKHAMUN AND HOW WAS HIS TOMB DISCOVERED?
The face of Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, and ruled between 1332 BC and 1323 BC. Right, his famous gold funeral mask
Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, and ruled between 1332 BC and 1323 BC.
He was the son of Akhenaten and took to the throne at the age of nine or ten.
When he became king, he married his half-sister, Ankhesenpaaten.
He died at around the age of 18 and his cause of death is unknown.
In 1907, Lord Carnarvon George Herbert asked English archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter to supervise excavations in the Valley of the Kings.
On 4 November 1922, Carter's group found steps that led to Tutankhamun's tomb.
He spent several months cataloguing the antechamber before opening the burial chamber and discovering the sarcophagus in February 1923.
When the tomb was discovered in 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter, under the patronage of Lord Carnarvon, the media frenzy that followed was unprecedented.
Carter and his team took 10 years to clear the tomb of its treasure because of the multitude of objects found within it.
For many, Tut embodies ancient Egypt's glory because his tomb was packed with the glittering wealth of the rich 18th Dynasty from 1569 to 1315 BC.
Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass (3rd L) supervises the removal of the lid of the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in 2007.
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