A scheme for moldavite fluvial abrasion based on observations from a natural river stream
Tomasz Brachaniec
Meteoritics & Planetary Science
Version of Record online:10 October 2020
“Tektite resistance to fluvial abrasion has become the core issue of several recent papers. Because of contradictory results of barrel observations, the experiment at hand was conceived and implemented. Monitored fluvial abrasion of moldavites had been carried out in a natural river stream. The subsequent results differ significantly from those obtained from barrel experiments. Moldavites can successfully survive reworking over a distance of several 100 km. The slightest loss in glass mass takes place during first 30% of reworking distance and is definitively not related to the original shape and/or ornamentation.”
