Ancient 4.4 Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Reveals History of Mars

First Posted: Nov 21, 2013 09:14 AM EST
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A meteorite may just help scientists uncover the secrets of Mars' birth. Researchers have analyzed a 4.4 billion-year-old Martian meteorite that was unearthed by Bedouin tribesmen in the Sahara desert and have discovered a wealth of information about the origin and age of the Red Planet's crust.

In order to detect minute amounts of chemicals in the meteorite, the researchers used an array of highly sophisticated mass spectrometers. They found high concentrations of trace metals such as iridium, an element that indicates meteoritic bombardment. This indicated that this meteorite came from an elusive cratered area in Mars' southern highlands.

"This cratered terrain has been long thought to hold the keys to Mars' birth and early childhood," said Muni Humayun, one of the researchers, in a news release.

Craters may cover more than half of Mars, but this is the first sample to come from an area that's implicated in Mars' early crustal growth. By using the chemical information found in pieces of soil contained in the meteorite, the researchers were able to calculate the thickness of Mars' crust. These calculations actually aligned with estimates from independent spacecraft measurements and confirmed that Mars did not experience a giant impact that melted the entire planet in its early history.

The researchers were also able to date the crystals within the meteorite. This revealed that it was an astounding 4.4 billion years old.

"This date is about 100 million years after the first dust condensed in the solar system," said Humayun in a news release. "We now know that Mars had a crust within the first 100 million years of the start of planet building, and that Mars' crust formed concurrently with the oldest crusts on Earth and the moon."

The findings reveal a little bit more about the ancient history of Mars.  Yet this may just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to discoveries associated with this meteorite. Scientists plan to continue examining the meteorite in hopes of uncovering more information about the Red Planet, including its impact history and the nature of Martian zircons.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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