I never thought much about fulgurites until I accidentally found some in New Mexico, while I was out looking for peridot (to facet of course). There wasn't any facet grade peridot to be found on that trip, but I did find a few funny looking little tube-shaped objects. A closer examination showed them to be fulgurites. For those of you unfamiliar with fulgurites; they are the result of lightning striking the earth and locally melting the sand. As the lightning strikes the ground, and passes downward through the sand, the sand is instantly superheated, and fused into twisting branching tubes. The tubes take on shapes that decrease in size as they descend into the sand. The fulgurites may be nearly hollow, or nearly solid tubes of fused glass-like material. The exterior of the fulgurites are often rough with adhering, unfused sand.

After finding my first few fulgurites, I began to look for them more seriously, along with whatever else I was searching for (usually peridot). The volcanic maars in south-eastern New Mexico turn out to be very good places to find fulgurites. The specimen shown above was found on the edge of Woods Hole, a maar not far from El Paso, Texas. Lightning striking the sandy ash on the upper rim of the maar resulted in the above fulgurite specimen. It was found as two sections and has been repaired with a water-soluble glue. This piece has only a tiny hollow tube, perhaps 0.5mm in diameter, that passes the length of the fulgurite. The tube consist of fused volcanic ash and sand. (#M392, $7.50 Sold ) Back