LECHATELIERITE
Specimen lec-5

Dims: 3.09x0.59x0.43" (7.84x1.49x1.10cm)

Wt: 0.14oz (4.0g)

Al Kufra, Libia

This is a fulgarite, an example of sand fused into a glass by lightning. Generally found in deserts, they are formed when a lightning bolt strikes the top of a sand dune, and the intense heat causes the sand to melt and fuse into an amorphous glass along the path of the lighting. Of course, the bolt quickly spreads into smaller and smaller branches, yielding a kind of fossil imprint of the lighting strike. The main strike can be many centimeters wide and meters long, but most fulgarites are a centimeter or two in diameter, and no more than tens of centimeters in length. This one is a very light-weight thin hollow tube, coated with the light-brown sand from which it formed.

Dims: 3.16x0.55x0.47" (8.02x1.41x1.21cm)

Wt: 11.5ct (2.3g)

Al Kufra, Libia

This lechatelierite specimen is a fulgarite, the result of a lighting strike in desert sands. It is an extremely light and very thin shell, with many tiny holes. The color varies from light brown to nearly white, with many tiny black specks. A loupe reveals that the interior is smooth and glassy, while the outside is rough, as these crystals of sand were only partially melted and are welded in to the lechatelierite tube.

Dims: 2.47x0.65x0.41" (6.29x1.64x1.05cm)

Wt: 0.13oz (3.6g)

Al Kufra, Libia

This specimen of lechatelierite was formed as a fulgarite, the result of a lightning strike in desert sands. It is amazingly light, which is due to its nature - a hollow tube of fused quartz. The interior was, of course, vaporized, and the lechatelierite is the fused, glassy material lining this cavity. On the outside, there are partially melted grains of sand fused into the shell, so it has a much rougher appearance. On the ends of the tube, a loupe reveals the transitions between the lechateliearite and the original quartz.

Dims: 6.12x0.54x0.35" (15.54x1.36x0.88cm)

Wt: 0.38oz (10.7g)

Al Kufra, Libia

This is a collapsed fulgarite. a fossil lightning strike that collapsed from a hollow tube of molten glass (lechatelierite) to a flattened tube before it cooled. A loupe is needed to examine the glassy (and transparent) lechatelierite, exposed at the edges of the specimen. Most of the specimen's appearance is due to the bits of sand and soil frozen into the surface of the lechatelierite as it cooled, giving it a gray appearance due to black, white, and gray components.

Dims: 2.14x1.16x1.01" (5.44x2.96x2.56cm)

Wt: 0.78oz (22.0g)

Al Kufra, Libia

This is another fulgarite, a fossilized lightning strike composed of sand grains fused into the glass lechatelierite around the hollow excavated by the lightning bolt. It is relatively thick and heavy for a fulgarite, and is a dark gray in color with little white grains of sand speckling the surface.