An accidental electrical discharge might have formed the first natural quasicrystal on Earth

The quasicrystal in question was found inside the tubular piece of fulgurite. It is formed by manganese, silicon, chromium, aluminum, and nickel.
Researchers looked at the quasicrystal employing an electron microscope. It contained bits of silicon dioxide glass, indicating that temperatures inside the dune during the discharge would have reached at least 1,710 degrees Celsius. It was also found that the quasicrystal had been collected from an “area of transition” between melted aluminum alloy and silicate glass.
A significant discovery
The discovery is significant – it reveals that there could be other quasicrystals of a natural origin of Earth, formed due to lightning or high-voltage power lines.
“The discovery suggests mechanisms for the formation of quasicrystals in nature (on Earth and in space) and the laboratory,” the team wrote.
Abstract:
We report the discovery of a dodecagonal quasicrystal Mn72.3Si15.6Cr9.7Al1.8Ni0.6—composed of a periodic stacking of atomic planes with quasiperiodic translational order and 12-fold symmetry along the two directions perpendicular to the planes—accidentally formed by an electrical discharge event in an eolian dune in the Sand Hills near Hyannis, Nebraska, United States. The quasicrystal, coexisting with a cubic crystalline phase with composition Mn68.9Si19.9Ni7.6Cr2.2Al1.4, was found in a fulgurite consisting predominantly of fused and melted sand along with traces of melted conductor metal from a nearby downed power line. The fulgurite may have been created by a lightning strike that combined sand with material from downed power line or from electrical discharges from the downed power line alone. Extreme temperatures of at least 1,710 °C were reached, as indicated by the presence of SiO2 glass in the sample. The dodecagonal quasicrystal is an example of a quasicrystal of any kind formed by electrical discharge, suggesting other places to search for quasicrystals on Earth or in space and for synthesizing them in the laboratory.