Libyan Desert Glass

Libyan Desert Glass is one of the most mysterious and beautiful natural glasses on Earth.

Libyan Desert Glass

This is classed as an Impactite, which would have formed when a Meteor exploded in Earth’s atmosphere or struck the surface, releasing extreme heat & melting the desert sand which resulted in the glass.

Amazingly, Libyan Desert Glass was never ‘mined’ but could be found scattered across the sand and simply picked up from the surface. As the name suggests it was found in the Great Sand Sea, between western Egypt & Eastern Libya (hence the name Libyan desert glass)

This fascinating glass is actually one of the purest natural glasses, with 98% silica composition. It is believed to be around 29 million years old.

Libyan Desert Glass

An exciting & interesting fact, a carved scarab made from Libyan Desert Glass was found in Tutankhamun’s burial chest piece, showing this beautiful glass was treasured thousands of years ago by the Ancient Egyptians.

How does Impactite form?

Impactites are formed when meteorite impacts the earth's surface. When a meteorite strikes the earth's surface, it generates a huge amount of heat & pressure, which will vaporise the surrounding rocks (in this case sand). This results in super-heated debris flying into the atmosphere, while it is in the atmosphere is cools and solidifies into this glass like form.