Variation of chemical composition in Australasian tektites from different localities in Vietnam

One hundred and thirteen Australasian tektites from Vietnam (Hanoi, Vinh, Dalat, and Saigon areas) were analyzed for their major and trace element contents. The tektites are either of splash form or Muong Nong-type. The splash-form tektites have SiO2 contents ranging from 69.7 to 76.8 wt%, whereas Muong Nong-type tektites, which are considerably larger than splash-form tektites and have a blocky and chunky appearance, have slightly higher silica contents in the range of 74-81 wt%. Major-element relationships, such as FeO versus major oxides, Na2O versus K2O, and oxide ratio plots, were used to distinguish the different groups of the tektites. In addition, correlation coefficients have been calculated for each tektite group of this study. Many chemical similarities are noted between Hanoi and Vinh tektites from the north of Vietnam, except that the Hanoi tektites contain higher contents of CaO than Vinh; the higher content of CaO might be due to some carbonate parent material. Both Dalat and Saigon tektites have nearly similar composition, whereas the bulk chemistries of the tektites from Hanoi and Vinh appear different from those of Saigon and Dalat. There are differences, especially in the lower CaO and Na2O and higher MgO, FeO, for the tektites of Dalat and Saigon in comparison to that of Hanoi tektites. Furthermore, the Dalat and Saigon tektites show enrichments by factors of 3 and 2 for the Ni and Cr contents, respectively, compared to those of Hanoi and Vinh. The difference in chemistry between the North Vietnam tektites (Hanoi, Vinh) to that of South Vietnam tektites (Saigon, Dalat) of this study indicate that the parent material was heterogeneous and possibly mixing between different source rocks took place. Muong Nong-type tektites are enriched in the volatile elements such as Br, Zn, As, and Sb compared to the average splash-form tektites of this study. The chemical compositions of the average splash-form and Muong Nong-type tektites of this study closely resemble published data for average splash-form and Wong Nong-type indochinites, indicating that they have the same source. The trace element ratios Ba/Rb (2.7), Th/U (5.2), Th/Sc (1.3), Th/Sm (2.2), and the rare earth element (REE) abundances Of this Study show close similarities to those of average upper continental crust.