Image: Shocked quartz
Shocked quartz specimen.
- Photographer:
- Alan Hildebrand
- Rights:
- © Alan Hildebrand
Additional information
Shocked quartz has a crystal structure altered by sudden extreme pressure from either violent volcanic eruptions or meteorite impacts. Samples from the end-Mesozoic extinction layer are most likely caused by a meteorite impact.
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Tags meteorite impacts, Mesozoic, Cretaceous, extinction event,