fulgurite

[ fuhl-gyuh-rahyt ]

noun

1. a tubelike formation in sand or rock, caused by lightning.

fulgurite

/ ˈfʌlɡjʊˌraɪt /

noun

1. a tube of glassy mineral matter found in sand and rock, formed by the action of lightning

fulgurite

/ fl′gyə-rīt′,-gə- /

1. A slender, usually tubular body of glassy rock produced by lightning striking and then fusing dry sandy soil.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fulgurite¹

1825–35; < Latin fulgur ( fulgurate ) + -ite ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of fulgurite¹

C19: from Latin fulgur lightning

Example Sentences

It might hit the beach, perhaps forming a beautiful deposit of fulgurite.

From Science News For Students

The authors of the new study collected fulgurite that had been produced by lighting hitting the ground in Illinois in 2016, initially just to study the effects of extreme flash heating as preserved in these kinds of samples.

From MIT Technology Review

This life-through-lightning model is limited to environments with shallow waters—lightning must produce fulgurite in areas where it can dissolve properly to release the phosphorus, but where it won’t become lost in a vast body of water.

From MIT Technology Review

Finally, we used our fulgurite and other published fulgurite studies to estimate of how much schreibersite, or similar forms of phosphorus, would have been made available by lightning strikes.

From Singularity Hub 

By firing lasers, X-rays and electrons at the fulgurite and observing how those beams interacted with the material, the researchers were able to probe its composition.

From Science News

This fulgurite, which is extremely light, measures six centimetres in length.

From Project Gutenberg