Abstract
Microtektites recovered from deep-sea sediments have unique surface sculpturing. Many of the surface features (pits, U-shaped grooves, mounds) are similar to those observed on tektites from adjacent strewn fields. Some surface features are characteristic of microtektites from a given strewn field (for example, star-shaped pits on North American microtektites and U-shaped and V-shaped grooves on Ivory Coast microtektites). The surface sculpturing was apparently produced by solution prior to burial on the ocean floor. Some of the surface features (such as star-shaped pits, U-shaped grooves, and silica-rich protrusions) were apparently due to heterogeneities at the surface of the microtektites or in a stress shell and cannot be reproduced by etching interior surfaces.
