Strange glassy blobs strewn across the Australian desert are evidence of an ancient meteorite impact that scientists hadn't noticed until now.

According to a new analysis led by geoscientist Anna Musolino of Aix-Marseille University in France, tiny spheres of glass found in South Australia represent an impact-melt composition not found anywhere else in the world.

These newly named ananguites , the researchers say, formed in a giant impact that took place some 11 million years ago.

The sting in this particular tail is that geologists have yet to find any trace of a crater associated with this event – an event powerful enough to leave mineral traces that persist in detectable quantities for millions of years.

Related: A Massive Geological Surprise Has Been Discovered Under Greenland

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