Sahara meteorite identified as 4.1-billion-year-old fragment of Mars
The Teghaza 001 meteorite provides new insights into the early crust and the history of water on the Red Planet.
Scientists have identified a rare meteorite found in the Sahara Desert as a 4.1-billion-year-old fragment of Mars, according to a report by Moneycontrol. The meteorite, named Teghaza 001 after a salt-mining settlement in Mali, is among the oldest Martian rocks ever found on Earth.
The research, published in the journal Science, suggests the rock contains minerals that preserve information from the first few hundred million years after Mars formed. Researchers used uranium isotope ratios to date zircon crystals found in the sample, which prompted the investigation after the rock was initially classified as a younger shergottite.
Yang Liu, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and lead author of the study, said it is very rare to find something this old. Of more than 400 Martian meteorites discovered so far, only two others, Allan Hills 84001 and Northwest Africa 7034, are comparable in age.
The meteorite provides evidence regarding the history of water on Mars. Analysis suggested water was abundant when the rock formed, though the planet had already begun losing a substantial amount of it. Water molecules in the meteorite came from magma rising from the mantle and from the surface and atmosphere.
Lee Saper, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and co-author, said the sample strengthened scientists' understanding of ancient Martian water. Saper noted that having two data points provides more confidence, though a more complex story is yet to be uncovered.