Mars Rock - SNC (shergottite)
Ghadamis, Libya
Infinitely more rare than diamonds or gold, meteorites from Mars are among the most exotic substances on Earth with less than 350 kg (770 lbs) known to exist. Scientists long suspected an esoteric group of unusual meteorites with similar features were pieces of Mars which landed on Earth. There were many different reasons to believe in a planetary origin and it was thought these meteorites were either from Venus or Mars. Scientists correctly speculated that an asteroid impact must have “kicked” some of the material off one of the other planets—and as a result of the weaker gravity and thinner atmosphere of Mars, which meant less energy would be required to eject the specimens off the Martian surface —it was reasoned these unusual meteorites were from the planet Mars.
And then there was proof! Many of these meteorites—including the current example—contain impact glass and researchers determined that inside the glass meteorites that were tested there were tiny bubbles, and within these tiny bubbles were minute amounts of gas. And the gas matched perfectly with the signature of the Martian atmosphere which scientists learned about in great detail from NASA’s Viking space probes.
This specimen has been authenticated by scientists of the Meteoritical Society—the foremost organization of meteorite researchers in the world—as being a Martian basalt, which is to say it’s a type of lava composed of olivine, pyroxene and feldspar in the form of maskelynite. As tremendous amounts of heat and pressure are required for maskelynite to form, this is consistent with an impact event on Mars which would explain this specimen's delivery mechanism to Earth.
This specimen was found by desert nomads in May 2019 and is exceedingly fresh. A large swath of fusion crust—the result of frictional heating as the meteorite burned through Earth’s atmosphere as it plunged to Earth. With a large-grained diabasic texture, this piece of Mars contains prixmatic clinopyroxene, lathes of maskynite with accessory merrillite, apatite, ilmenite and pyrrhotite. Pockets of shock melt are in evidence which infers the presence of Martian atmosphere.
Measuring 163 x 94 x 79 mm (6.41 x 3.71 x 3.11 in.) and weighs 1193.72 grams (2.63 lbs)
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