Water Exposure to Martian Meteorites, It’s 1.3 Billion Years Old!

Exposure to water on a Martian meteorite is a new discovery by a team of scientists from Lund University.

They are indeed examining the chart of the Miller Range or MIL 03346 which is a nakhlite meteorite from the Miller Range in Antarctica.

During their inspection, the team of scientists found that water exposure was limited to the 1.3 billion-year-old red planet meteorite.

Also Read: Origin of Water on Earth Really from Meteorites? This is the explanation

Water Exposure Findings on Martian Meteorites

Meteorites are rocks from outer space. Some of the meteorites often enter the Earth, but because of their relatively small size they have no impact.

Some of the meteorites that fall to Earth are usually used by a team of scientists as research material. They will examine the origin, age, and content of the space rock.

Now scientists can also research space samples more easily because of technological advances that provide advanced research tools.

Like the current team of scientists from Lund University. They are currently researching a part of the Martian meteorite called Mile Range (MIL) 03346.

The nakhlite meteorite from the Miller Range is about 1.3 billion years old. Scientists used the neutron method and X-ray tomography to further investigate this meteorite.

The research report has now been published in the journal Science Advances and has open access. The results of the study showed that this meteorite had been exposed to water.

For information, nakhlite is indeed a group of meteorites from frozen Mars that are rich in mineral content, known as pyroxene and olivine.

One of the key findings in this finding is that the terrestrial from Mars is a fluid change of livine grains.

To date, all identified nakhlites are thought to have originated from the same volcanic system. This comes from the geological conditions of the rocks and their formation, geochemistry, and the same ejection age, which is 11 million years.

Also Read: First Discovery of Sugar in Meteorites, Clues to the Origin of Life on Earth

Meteorite Age and Location

The discovery of water exposure on this Martian meteorite has indeed made scientists wonder about its age.

As nakhlite meteorites, they are present in at least four magnetic events with a crystallization age range of 1.42 to 1.32 billion years ago.

The location of this source is Syrtis Major, the Elysium-Amazonis volcanic plain, the Great Volcanic Field of the Northern Plains, and also the Tharsis.

Elysium-Amazonis is one of the plains on Mars and is located between the Tharsis region and Elysium. According to estimates, this plain is 100 million years old.

Josefin Martell, a doctoral student at Lund University, said that the meteorite investigation was important because water was at the center of the question of whether there was ever life on Mars.

Also Read: Ice Fossil in Meteorite Found by Scientists, 4.6 Billion Years Old

To be able to answer that, Martell and colleagues used neutrons and X-ray tomography in their research.

X-ray tomography to examine water exposure in Martian meteorites is also likely to be used by NASA to examine samples from Mars in 2030. (R10/HR-Online)

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