Definitions for "Stishovite"
Keywords:  meteorite, craters, shock, dense, kbar
Stishovite is a very dense form of quartz that has only been found in meteorite impact craters, in which quartz has undergone high-pressure shock.
A dense, high-pressure phase of quartz that has so far been identified only in shock-metamorphosed, quartz-bearing rocks from meteorite impact craters.
Stishovite (after S.M. Stishov, 20th-century Russian mineralogist) is a dense tetragonal form (polymorph) of silicon dioxide that is formed only, so far as is known, at the very high pressures (~100 kbar = 10 GPa) and temperatures (> 1200°C) present during a meteor's impact on quartz-bearing rock. Stishovite may also be synthesized by duplicating these conditions in the laboratory, either isostatically or through shock (see shocked quartz).