Mars meteorites reveal clues about what lies within the Red Planet
One day, we’ll bring samples home from Mars – but until then we have some Martian material to work with, thanks to meteorites from Mars that crashed into Earth. Scientists with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography are studying these, gaining insight into the early formation of the Red Planet. They’ve gleaned information about the structure of Mars’ crust and mantle. The meteorites indicate Mars has an atmospherically altered upper crust, as well as a complex deeper crust. They suggest it has a mantle from which plumes emerge through the crust to produce a specific type of volcano, and have also indicated that Mars has reservoirs throughout its internal structure.
“Martian meteorites enable us to make precise and accurate measurements and then quantify processes that occurred within Mars and close to the Martian surface. They provide direct information on Mars’ composition that can ground truth mission science, like the ongoing Perseverance rover operations,” Scripps geologist James Day, said. Day’s team studied two specific types of Martian meteorites: nakhlites and chassignites. These formed in a Martian volcanic system some 1.3 billion years ago, were ejected from the planet some 11 million years ago following a meteor impact then crashed into Earth.
“By determining that [these meteorites] interacted with Martian crust, we can identify a new rock type on Mars,” Day said.