While conducting shale maceration experiments with quaternary surfactants, I stumbled upon microtektites in the Rhinestreet Member of the Late Devonian West Falls Group here in the Buffalo area. Since the original piece of shale given to me was from an unknown location in the stratigraphic column the ‘backwards’ search began this past June. A UB undergraduate student, Cody Kowalski, and I have made great strides at 18 Mile Creek (Erie County) in Eden, NY and are well on our way.

Gary Lash, retired professor from SUNY Fredonia, and Paul Bembia, Project Manager at West Valley NYSERDA, have been contributing to this discovery by guiding us in the field and conducting EDS work on the samples …. more updates soon!