Martian meteorites are over 4 billion years old

Meteorites are constantly falling down onto the Earth. But we have little knowledge about where they come from or of their age. Now University of Oslo researchers at CEED (Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics), Department of Geosciences, have managed to find where on Mars many of the meteorites originated from - and determined that they are more than 4 billion years old.

3D image of Mojave crater on Mars where shergottite meteorites originated. Tinted areas show the presence of the minerals pyroxene and olivine which are the main constituents of shergottites. Photo: Data from OMEGA (MEX / ESA, crismar and CTX (MRO / NASA), (A.Ody)

Meteorites from Mars has been known since the 1980s. The largest group of Martian meteorites are called shergottites.

Researcher Stephanie Werner and her team at CEED have now been able to identify the source crater of these shergottites.

Struck by giant stone

The source area on Mars was probably struck around 3 million years ago by a stony body with a diameter of 5.5 km. Rock fragments which were torn from Mars at that time ended their flight through space when they landed on the Earth’s surface a few thousand years ago, she says.

Wernes and her team’s findings are discussed in the prestigious international science magazine Science / Science Express. In addition to Werner, researchers Anouck Ody and Francois Poulet are co-authors of the article.

There has been considerable uncertainty as to the age of the shergottites. Some have supposed that they are younger than 600 million years, others have argued that they are older than 4.1 billion years.

Facts about meteorites

Meteorites are fragments of larger objects - such as asteroids, other planets or the moon. They have survived a journey through space and through the Earth's atmosphere. They may be rock fragments, or may consist of iron-nickel alloy or a mixture of iron and rock .

Read more about meteorites at Naturhistorisk museum

 

 

Ancient meteorites

Because the source crater is Mojave (7.7 N, 33.0 W), the mineralogy and age of the meteorites be placed in a Martian geological context.

A lengthy debate is thus concluded. We can confirm that the shergottites are more than 4.1 billion years old, says Werner.
The geological evolution of other planets isdifficult to study since fieldwork is not possible there.

But meteorites that originated from other planets and have fallen down to Earth, can be analysed in the laboratory and give us unique information. We can determine the age and mineralogy. Other detailed laboratory analysis tells us about planetary volcanic and petrological development. These analyses can not provide information about the location or crater where meteorites originated on the parent planet, says Werner.

Stephanie WernerUniversity researcher Stephanie Werner

 

The density of cratering is crucial

The only method to date the geological evolution of stone-like planets is to determine the crater density on the planet surface. The higher the crater density, the older the surface. To calibrate the crater densities to absolute ages is a demanding process.

But based on dated lunar samples, which were brought back to Earth during the Apollo program, one can create a model in which the crater frequency can be related to absolute ages, she says.

 

 

ShergottittShergottitten at the Natural History Museum. Photo: Rune Selbekk, NHM

15 meteorite falls in Norway

Shergottites are named after the city Shergotty in India where a meteorite fall was observed Aug. 25, in the year 1865. Other Martian meteorite classes are named after the Nakhla area in Egypt (nakhlites) and the city of Chassigny in France (chassignites).

A shergottite fragment called "Zagami" can be studied in the meteorite collection at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in Oslo, while the total collection consists of about 250 fragments.

Most meteorites are much older than the Martian meteorites, i.e. closer to 4.56 billion years, and provide important information about the formation of the solar system, says Werner.

There are 15 known meteorite falls in Norway, and most of these meteorites are housed at the Natural History Museum.


(This article was also published at forskning.no 7.3.2014)

And several articles in international media.

By Gunhild M. Haugnes
Published Mar. 24, 2014 2:23 PM - Last modified July 3, 2023 11:44 AM