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And they are greenish-black with a glassy patina.

This is one of the newest finds, classified just two months ago in the MetBull, as NWA 14269, and found in 2021 in the Sahara Desert.

Summary of petrographic analysis at UW: “Martian Shergottite (aphyric, diabasic). Diabasic texture with some preferred orientation of prismatic, zoned clinopyroxene grains and lath-like maskelynite grains. Accessory phases include pyrrhotite, ulvöspinel (with variable Cr contents), ilmenite, silica polymorph, K-feldspar, merrillite and minor baddeleyite. Some small melt pockets containing ‘swirly’ vesicular glass are present.”

Whole stone, 764g, 5.25″ x 3″ x 3″ perched, appropriately, on Rod Pyle’s book Destination Mars.

3 responses to “Mars Keeps Throwing Rocks at Earth”

  1. Saw this rock in a panorama shot from the Perseverance rover… and it looks so similar!

  2. It’s interesting how the similarity masks a massive age difference. The Jezero lacrustine sediment fragments in the picture above are probably ~3.8 Gyr old, where as the parent units for the shergottites tend to have crystallization ages of only ~180 Myr or so. It must be that younger, competent rock is better at getting spalled into space, so many of the Martian meteorites are remarkably young given that most of the surface is very old. (ALH 84001 being a showcase exception).

  3. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/oklo] fascinating. Does that make sense to you? Why might younger rock be more easily ejected?

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