Quasicrystals exist in nature in only a handful of confirmed cases, all produced by extreme energy events: asteroid collisions, lightning strikes, and nuclear detonation.
Key Takeaways
All 3 known extraterrestrial quasicrystals (Icosahedrite Al63Cu24Fe13, Decagonite Al71Ni24Fe5, i-Phase II Al62Cu31Fe7) came from a single meteorite found in Khatyrka, Russia.
The Khatyrka meteorite is the only known meteorite containing metallic aluminum, suggesting an ultra-high-velocity asteroid collision origin.
i-Phase II is the first quasicrystal composition discovered in nature before being synthesized in a lab.
A dodecagonal quasicrystal (Mn72.3Si15.6Cr9.7Al1.8Ni0.6) found in a Nebraska fulgurite blurs the natural/manmade line: origin may be lightning or a downed power line arc.
The Trinity atomic bomb test site yielded a silicon-dominant icosahedral quasicrystal (Si61Cu30Ca2Fe2), documented in a 2021 PNAS paper.
