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2 Billion Years Old Meteorite From Martian Crust Found
in
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013...Meteorite.html it is reported that a 2.1 billion years old meteorite originating from the crust of Mars has been found in the Sahara. To me, this short report raises more questions than it answers. As i had learned from the moderators of this group, the Martian origin of some meteorites is proven by the oxygen isotope ratios in small gas bubbles contained in the meteorite amd that agrees with the isotope ratio found in the Martian atmosphere by the two Viking landers in 1976. (There are apparently no more recent measurements of these isotope ratios, maybe Curiosyity will provide new results.) However, if the age of the meteorite is correct: Why should one expect that the isotope ratio in the atmosphere has remained unchanged through more than 2 billion years? Especially, if it is claimed that the meteorite left the Martian crust during a wet period of Mars? Most Martian meteorites appear to have been molten, indicating a volcanic origin. As there had been volcanoes on Mars, but e.g. not on the Moon in the last several billion years, there is an additional argument for the Martian origin of these meteorites. But the recently identified meteorite is expected to come from the Martian crust. Whereas volcanoes might be able to reach the Martian escape velocity for parts of their ejecta, it is hard to imagine that a grazingly incident meteorite might throw parts of the crust into space, especially if one thinks of a maybe dense wet atmosphere breaking the incoming meteorite and the throen out crust material. Presently I have no access to the paper announced in that short communication, maybe other readers can shed some light on this topic. All the best Jurgen |
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2 Billion Years Old Meteorite From Martian Crust Found
In article ,
Juergen Barsuhn writes: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013...Meteorite.html it is reported that a 2.1 billion years old meteorite originating from the crust of Mars has been found in the Sahara. To me, this short report raises more questions than it answers. What do you expect from a press release? The full paper is at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/ea...e.1228858.full but you will need a subscription or pay to read it. There may be a preprint, but I haven't looked. The abstract is public, so you can search on author names. Martian origin of some meteorites is proven by the oxygen isotope ratios in small gas bubbles I think that's only part of the story. In any case, the Martian orgin of NWA 7034 seems to be based mainly on Fe versus Mn, but there are lots of other ratios that match Mars. Interestingly, NWA 7034 matches results of Mars rovers and orbiters much better than it matches SNC meteorites, suggesting that it is more representative of Mars' current surface than the SNCs are. I didn't see any mention of gas bubbles, but I might have missed it. Why should one expect that the isotope ratio in the atmosphere has remained unchanged through more than 2 billion years? I don't know of any evidence one way or the other, but I'm not a planetary scientist. Especially, if it is claimed that the meteorite left the Martian crust during a wet period of Mars? The data show that the meteorite contains lots of water, hence the "wet period." Isotope ratios give its age, which I _think_ refers to the time since the rock solidified. I don't know how that epoch relates to other studies of Mars' climate, but the name "Amazonian epoch" does suggest water. Most Martian meteorites appear to have been molten, indicating a volcanic origin. Not sure about "most," but this one appears to be volcanic. Whereas volcanoes might be able to reach the Martian escape velocity for parts of their ejecta, it is hard to imagine that a grazingly incident meteorite might throw parts of the crust into space, I think that's backwards: no one thinks volcanoes can eject rocks, but impacts certainly can. -- Help keep our newsgroup healthy; please don't feed the trolls. Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123 Cambridge, MA 02138 USA |
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2 Billion Years Old Meteorite From Martian Crust Found
Steve Willner schrieb:
In article , Juergen Barsuhn writes: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013...Meteorite.html it is reported that a 2.1 billion years old meteorite originating from the crust of Mars has been found in the Sahara. To me, this short report raises more questions than it answers. What do you expect from a press release? A concisely written report on the essential results of the findings in a form that might be understood by interested members of the public that finally finance the research work by their taxes. Most people will never receive an information that goes beyond of this or similar press releases. The full paper is at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/ea...e.1228858.full but you will need a subscription or pay to read it. Thank you, but indeed this location is inaccessible for me. The abstract given lacks any closer information. I expected this difficukty, so I hoped that somebody out of this newsgroup might have read the cited paper and would comment on it. The authors claim that "their" meteorite is 2.1 billion years old and hence by far the oldest meteorite from Mars. As far as I have read, the other meteorites are expected to be not older than 200 million years. So an age of more than 2 billion yeras would be an extraordinary claim. ........ Martian origin of some meteorites is proven by the oxygen isotope ratios in small gas bubbles I think that's only part of the story. In any case, the Martian orgin of NWA 7034 seems to be based mainly on Fe versus Mn, but there are lots of other ratios that match Mars. Interestingly, NWA 7034 matches results of Mars rovers and orbiters much better than it matches SNC meteorites, suggesting that it is more representative of Mars' current surface than the SNCs are. I didn't see any mention of gas bubbles, but I might have missed it. Well - this gas bubble method idea stems from a paper to which I think Jonathan pointed me about 10 years ago. The method sounds very complicated experimentally and maybe has been actually performed only for a (small) part of the Martian meteorites found in those years in the Antarctica. Around 2000 thare was a heavy discussion in the internet, whether these meteorites indeed originate from Mars. Why should one expect that the isotope ratio in the atmosphere has remained unchanged through more than 2 billion years? If the gas bubble method were used for the Sahara-meteorite ...... But maybe other arguments have been used to validitate its Martian origin. ....... The data show that the meteorite contains lots of water, hence the "wet period." Isotope ratios give its age, which I _think_ refers to the time since the rock solidified. I don't know how that epoch relates to other studies of Mars' climate, but the name "Amazonian epoch" does suggest water. OK. The rock then was formed about 2 billion years ago but might have left the Martian surface relatively recently due to an impact event. So this rock had not to overcome a denser wet atmosphere when leaving the Martian surface, but only very thin atmosphere of the presence. ? Regards Jurgen |
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2 Billion Years Old Meteorite From Martian Crust Found
Juergen Barsuhn wrote:
OK. The rock then was formed about 2 billion years ago but might have left the Martian surface relatively recently due to an impact event. Yes. This rock was formed (solidifed from molten lava) about 2 billion years ago on the surface of mars. It was blasted off the Martian surface (by a meteor impact) quite recently, probably a few 10s of millions of years ago. -- -- "Jonathan Thornburg [remove -animal to reply]" Dept of Astronomy & IUCSS, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA on sabbatical in Canada starting August 2012 "Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." -- quote by Freire / poster by Oxfam |
#5
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2 Billion Years Old Meteorite From Martian Crust Found
On 09/01/2013 07:39, Steve Willner wrote:
In article , Juergen Barsuhn writes: Martian origin of some meteorites is proven by the oxygen isotope ratios in small gas bubbles I think that's only part of the story. In any case, the Martian orgin of NWA 7034 seems to be based mainly on Fe versus Mn, but there are lots of other ratios that match Mars. Interestingly, NWA 7034 matches results of Mars rovers and orbiters much better than it matches SNC meteorites, suggesting that it is more representative of Mars' current surface than the SNCs are. I didn't see any mention of gas bubbles, but I might have missed it. The abstract says they determined the oxygen stable isotope ratio from the bulk mineral and from the heat releasable water content of 0.6% (with different delta_O17 values 0.58%o and 0.33%o respectively). Please excuse the use of %o for per mil. Why should one expect that the isotope ratio in the atmosphere has remained unchanged through more than 2 billion years? I don't know of any evidence one way or the other, but I'm not a planetary scientist. They are weakly dependent on the temperature and so the amount of water locked up at the poles. Heavier isotopes of water have a slightly lower vapour pressure and gradually concentrate in the liquid phase. But the point here is probably that it is different enough from the Earth's oxygen isotope ratio to rule out a terrestrial water source. I presume that when Mars lost its magnetic field and atmosphere the molecules containing light isotopes were more vulnerable to being swept away by the solar wind so that what remains is enriched in heavy oxygen. Especially, if it is claimed that the meteorite left the Martian crust during a wet period of Mars? The data show that the meteorite contains lots of water, hence the "wet period." Isotope ratios give its age, which I _think_ refers to the time since the rock solidified. I don't know how that epoch relates to other studies of Mars' climate, but the name "Amazonian epoch" does suggest water. Correct. Geological dating methods depend on the radioactive decay of certain species since the rock last solidified. The abstract doesn't say which decay system they used to date it but Nd and Pb are popular. The OP might find the following URL helpful as an introduction: http://geology.cr.usgs.gov/capabilit.../geochron.html The rare earth signature is another way to determine the type of a meteorite with a reasonable degree of confidence. This can be done using laser ablation with only tiny amounts of the specimen used up. I am not a planetary scientist either but I know one or two and have worked on software for mass spectrometry for a few decades. -- Regards, Martin Brown [Mod. note: some special characters removed from no-spam From: address in an attempt to get this posted -- mjh] |
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