New Estimates of Area and Mass for the North American Tektite Strewn Field

Abstract

The exact extension of the North American tektite strewn field, the oldest known tektite strewn field, is not well established. Past estimates have ranged from an area including most of the eastern part of the United States and a large part of the Pacific Ocean to smaller areas centered at the Caribbean Sea. New and revised estimates about the extension of the North American tektite field are based on: (1) the recent discoveries of tektites in Barbados and at a DSDP site off the coast of New Jersey; (2) the verification of the genuineness of the Cuban tektite; and (3) the recognition that the microtektites in the Pacific core are of different origin.