Gemstone Moldavite is found only in limited areas in the Czech Republic, in the hills, valleys (impact craters) and waters of the Moldau and Vltava rivers. Moldavite is the outer surface of (one or more) meteorites that fused and melted as a consequence of entering our atmosphere. Evidence suggests that there were a series of major meteor impacts in an area stretching from Germany and Austria through Czechoslovakia. Great pressures and heat caused by the collision created a sort of "instant magma", which exploded back into the atmosphere. The most significant strike formed the Ries crater at Nordlingen in southern Germany. In the impact the kinetic energy of the 15 mile a second speed of the meteorite was transformed into thermal energy. The meteorite exploded, and the released heat melted the meteorite which was shot up by the pressure of the explosion into a height of about 50 kilometers.