Impactites are formed when an asteroid or comet strikes the
surface of the Earth and the impact forms a crater. The rocks of
the area are blasted from the site and fall as debris. Some of
the rock will be melted to one extent or another. Some melted to
solid high quality glass some poorer fused into lump called
Impactites and some of the rocks of the region may only be
ribboned with glass. Much of the rock that is debris in the
ejecta blank around the crater will be mixed material of
different types. Over time this material will become new rock.
Impact breccias and suevites will often be found as deposits
even after the rim and basin of the crater have eroded off and
filled in. Impactites are one type of melted material distinct
from tektites in that it has not flown great distance but
remains at the impact site. Some Impactites have bits of the
impactor incorporated into them. Metallic spheres of metal
meteorite are sometimes found in Impactites. Impact crater rocks
is a broader category of material to colle