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The water contents of some tektites, impactites, and artificial glass of tektite composition have been determined by infrared analysis. Calibration is based on a series of rhyolitic obsidian glasses previously analyzed by I. Friedman by a manometric technique. With one exception, the twenty‐five tektites measured had an average water content of 0.012±0.004 wt %. Water analyses of a series of glasses made in a solar furnace at atmospheric pressure, synthetic tektite glasses, and impactites showed an average water content of 0.043±0.013% and hence suggest that they were formed in an atmosphere having a higher water content than that in which tektites were formed. A comparison of the water content of selected small areas in tektite thin sections shows a nonuniform distribution and somewhat lower water content along what appears to be the aerodynamically heated side of the tektite. The results generally suggest that tektites were not formed under normal atmospheric pressure but in a partial‐to‐high vacuum.

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