2017 CHAD LIBYAN DESERT GLASS – METEORITE ART SERIES 5 OZ SILVER COIN

In 1932, in a desert bordering to Libya chunks of very pure natural quartz glass were found. From tracks of the natural radioactive decay in the glass it has been established that the event – of whatever kind – that was the origin of the glass occurred 28 million years ago. Libyan Desert Glass was first discovered by stone-age Aterian peoples, who made tools from the glass, and later by Egyptians, who used it as a gem stone.

Chemical analysis of the natural glass reveals  that it is fortified with “meteoric elements with typical chondritic proportions”, leading scientists to believe that the glass is the chemical result of a meteorite colliding with the nearly 100% silica composition of the sand. Since its discovery though, the true origin of the high silica Libyan Desert Glass still represents an unanswered enigma to scientists and researchers.