Australasian Strewnfield

The Australasian strewnfield, covering at least one-tenth of the Earth's surface, is the largest and the youngest of the tektite strewnfields. The 800,000 year-old strewnfield includes most of Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Southern China, Laos and Cambodia). The material from the impact stretches across the ocean to include the islands of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Java and reaches far out into the Indian Ocean and south to the western side of Australia.

The impact crater may have been between 32 and 114 kilometres in diameter. Also, some recent estimates suggest that the strewn field may cover 30% of the Earth's surface (Povenmire et al.).

Archeological artifacts found with these tektites suggests that a Homo Erectus population was living in the area during and after the impact. Stone tools have been found within the debris field along with a charcoal layer likely caused by fires from the impact. This impact area allowed this population easier access to stones useful for tool making, after the subsequent local deforestation. At Trinil, Java, blackened bone and charcoal deposits have been found among H. erectus fossils, dated from 500,000 to 830,000 BP indicating use of fire.