Impactite Breccia Suevite | 40.8 Grams | Chassenon, Rochechouart Structure, France

This is a must have 40.8 gram Impact Breccia, also referred to as Suevite, from the famous Rochechouart impact structure in South Western France, near the village of Chassenon.  Although not a meteorite, impactites are directly linked to them and their impacts and are probably going to be one of the rarest collection items you'll ever own. Impactite is a slag-like glassy object found on the surface of the earth, formed from rock melted by the impact of a meteorite.

Named after the town of Rochechouart, the Rochechouart impact structure is located on the western margin of the French Massif Central near the city of Limoges, approximately 350 km (220 mi) south of Paris. Rochechouart (population about 3800) is built with rocks created or modified by the impact (impactites). Chassenon, a third of the size of Rochechouart, is also built of impactites. Impactite was used 2000 years ago for building Chassenon's monumental Roman baths of Cassinomagus.

The very fine materials (impactoclastites) are preserved forming a very fine layered horizontal deposits on top of the melt rich suevite (breccia with a debris matrix and both rock debris and melt fragments as clasts) near Chassenon.

The term impactite encompasses shock-metamorphosed target rocks, melts or suevites and mixtures of the two, as well as sedimentary rocks with significant impact-derived components and shocked mineral grains, tektites, anomalous geochemical signatures, etc. This impactite was formed 186 million years ago.   This deformed rock fragments and partly molten are imbedded in a melt matrix showing typical flow structures from former melt.

This gorgeous end cut displays very well with a mass of 50x46x18 mm. Would be a beautiful addition to any new or existing collection. Comes with a Canagem Collection specimen card.