MARS METEORITES
Was there life on Mars? Is life on Mars?
This image shows evidence of water in Martian rock.
A larger
image of micro biological organisms found in the Martian meteorites.
Other Places where Evidence of Life May be Found
Strange - and alien to us - lifeforms live in the deep sea hydrothermal vents.
Strange lifeforms live in the
coral reefs as
well. These would be fossils on Mars if such creatures ever existed there.
Please vist
Meteorites From Mars. The images below and quoted text are from this site.
EETA79001
"Basaltic shergottite, has light-colored xenoliths and dark glasses containing trapped martian atmosphere."
Shergottite means stony meterorite. An anchondritic meteorite contans no chondrules. Chondrites are
stony meteorites that have chondrules(olivine and pyroxene minerals).
Xenoliths are unmelted rock fragments that got trapped in magma. A rock
of a different material, such as fragments of country rock that got included in the magma chamber, by
breaking off the chamber wall for example. The magma solidifies around it.
This is called an exogenous inclusion.
Glasses are formed by the rapid cooling of lava. Lava is what magma is when it comes to the surface. An example is Obsidian.
Minerals in magma and lava cool at different rates. Obsidian is produced when lava solidifies too rapidly for its atoms to organize themselves into minerals.
ALPHA77005.
"Lherzolitic shergottite has a splotchy dark-light structure."
Lherzolitie is a kind of Peridotite, composed of olivine and pyroxenes.
ALH84001
"Orthopyroxenite has a fractured zone where carbonate weathering products are more abundant."
Carbonate weathering is a process of chemical weathering. Chemical weathering is
the process of tranforming rocks and minerals into new materials - by hydrolysis, hydration,
oxidation, carbonation, ionic exchange, and solution. Carbonation changes some
minerals into carbonates or bicarbonates by carbon dioxide contained
in water.
Could this have happened while the meteorite was in Antarctica?
QUE94201
"Basaltic shergottite is tiny and the newest Martian meteorite."
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