Introduction to Meteorites
Every day, about 100 tonnes of rubble or dust from space enters Earth’s atmosphere.
Objects entering our atmosphere are termed ‘meteors’. Most meteors burn up without being seen or reaching the ground. However, larger meteors can cause fireballs that streak across the sky, and some fragments can land. These are termed ‘meteorites’.
The appearance and textures of meteorites, both externally and internally, give clues to their origin.
A thin, glassy ‘fusion crust’ covering the outside, and a relatively smooth shape, show that the meteorite has been heated to high temperatures travelling through Earth’s atmosphere.
There are three main types of meteorite: iron, stony-iron, and stony. Some stony meteorites have been identified as originating from Mars
Deep Dive into Types of Meteorites
Iron Meteorites
Iron meteorites are made of an alloy of the metals iron and nickel. Inside, they have a distinctive criss-cross structure (known as the Widmanstätten pattern) caused by the varying nickel contents cooling very slowly to form interlocking crystals. Iron meteorites are split into multiple groups based on variations in their mineralogy and texture.
Iron meteorites are fragments of the cores of large asteroids that, early in the Solar System’s history, melted and underwent a process called ‘differentiation’, whereby the densest materials, like iron, sank to form a central core surrounded by a mantle and an outer crust. The terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) also experienced differentiation and have a similar structure. Since scientists cannot reach and directly study the Earth’s metallic core, iron meteorites can help understand core formation in terrestrial planets.
Stony-Iron Meteorites
Stony-iron meteorites are composed of roughly equal amounts of silicate minerals and iron-nickel metal. There are two different types of stony-iron meteorites: pallasites and mesosiderites.
- Pallasites contain large green crystals of olivine surrounded by metal. A backlit slice of a pallasite meteorite looks a bit like a stained-glass window. Pallasites may give clues to how terrestrial planets formed, since they are thought to have formed at the boundary between the molten core and mantle of differentiated asteroids.
- Mesosiderites contain a mixture of fragments (breccia) from large asteroids that have collided, melted and then solidified. The silicate fragments are from the crusts of the asteroids and the metal fragments are from the cores
Stony Meteorites
Stony meteorites are mainly composed of silicate minerals, and are divided into two sub-groups: chondrites and achondrites.
- Chondrites are the most common type of meteorite found on Earth.
- At over 4.5 billion years old, chondrites are some of the oldest materials in the Solar System and have remained relatively unchanged since they formed.
- Chondrites contain spherical grains of silicate material, called ‘chondrules’, that formed as free-floating molten droplets in the cloud of dust and gas from which the Solar System formed. Chondrules, clumping together, are thought to be the building blocks of asteroids and the terrestrial planets, so provide insights into planet formation.
- There are many different types of chondrites, with differences in their mineralogy and chemistry that give clues about the asteroids from which they originate.
- Achondrites were formed through melting (igneous) processes that occurred on their parent body.
- Achondrites may come from large asteroids, the Moon, or Mars.
- There are many different types of achondrites, which vary in their composition and mineralogy, depending on their parent body.
Martian meteorites
Martian meteorites are rocks that come from Mars and have landed on Earth. They are currently the only samples of material from Mars that we have on Earth and can study in laboratories.
Large impacts, as well as forming craters on the surface of Mars, can throw out fragments of martian rocks into space. These fragments can sometimes end up on a trajectory to Earth. If they survive the descent through our atmosphere, land, and are found, they may be identified by scientists as martian meteorites.
Currently, there are over 250 meteorites in collections across the world that have been identified as coming from Mars. They have been recovered from Africa, Asia, Antarctica, Europe, and North and South America.
The Natural History Museum has seven martian meteorites in its collection, found in Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, North West Africa, Oman, India and France.
How do we know that meteorites come from Mars?
Scientists and geologists use state-of-the-art equipment, as well as their own senses, to determine the origin of rocks. In rare cases, they may discover that the rocks are meteorites that originate from Mars.
In the 1980s, scientists realised that a subset of meteorites were distinctly different from other meteorites. The first definitive evidence that a meteorite came from Mars was the discovery of gas, trapped within glass contained in the Elephant Moraine (EET) A79001 meteorite, that was identical in composition to the martian air measured by the Viking landers in 1976. Gas trapped within other martian meteorites has now also been found to match the Viking landers’ measurements.
All martian meteorites have chemical and physical properties in common. Minerals present in martian meteorites have similar elemental ratios and oxygen isotope compositions, meaning that the rocks are related to each other and originated from the same planetary body.
The internal textures of martian meteorites show that they formed from molten rock that cooled gradually to form crystals, suggesting that they originated from a planetary body that was once geologically active.
![Thin slice of the Nakhla meteorite viewed through a polarising microscope.](https://www.europlanet-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Virtual_Space_Microscope_Nakhla2-1024x477.jpg)
The age of a meteorite is determined by measuring the decay of radioactive isotopes it contains. Around 90% of martian meteorites have been found to be around 150-475 million years old, showing that volcanic activity was taking place on Mars until relatively recently in geological terms.
Deep Dive into Martian Meteorites Found on Earth
Martian meteorites were originally identified through common properties (texture, mineralogy, chemistry, isotopic compositions, and ages) of groups linked to three well-known meteorites: Shergotty (1865), Nakhla (1911), and Chassigny (1815). This grouping is commonly referred to as the ‘SNC’ meteorites.
More recent discoveries include martian meteorites with more diverse properties, beyond the SNC characteristics and include Orthopyroxenite and Polymict Breccia groups.
Shergottites
Shergottites are meteorites that have chemical and mineralogical properties similar to Shergotty, a meteorite discovered in India in 1865. Shergottites account for around 90% of all martian meteorites discovered to date. They are the youngest, in geological terms, of the martian meteorite groups. Formed through eruptions onto the martian surface between 150-475 million years ago, they provide evidence that an early Mars was geologically active.
Shergottites are thought to have been ejected from Mars in multiple different impact events less than 3 million years ago, except for one shergottite (Dhofar 019) which was ejected 20 million years ago.
Shergottites are divided into four subgroups, based on their mineralogy and texture (e.g. grain size, grain shapes and mineral abundances).
- Basaltic shergottites: The most abundant subgroup. These fine-grained rocks contain the minerals pyroxene and plagioclase.
- Olivine-phyric shergottites and poikilitic shergottites: These coarser-grained rocks contain olivine, pyroxene and plagioclase, and are sub-grouped by differences in texture.
- Gabbroic shergottites: These coarser-grained rocks contain pyroxene and plagioclase but lack the mineral olivine. The gabbroic shergottites also show cumulate textures, meaning that they formed through the build-up of crystals in a magma, either by settling or floating.
The fine-grained basaltic shergottites formed in a lava flow on the martian surface. The other shergottite subgroups are coarser-grained, implying that they cooled more slowly and are likely to have formed deeper in the martian crust. All shergottites are highly shocked (they experienced intense compression and heating) from the impact event that ejected them from Mars, which has converted the mineral plagioclase into maskelynite.
Nakhlites
Nakhlites resemble the properties of Nakhla, a meteorite discovered in Egypt in 1911. Nakhlites are clinopyroxenites meaning that they are mainly composed of the pyroxene mineral augite. These meteorites also contain minor amounts of olivine, as well as minerals that have formed in the presence of water, such as clays, carbonates, and sulphates. Nakhlites are thought to have formed either at, or near, the surface of Mars in either a lava flow or igneous intrusion, such as a sill (where magma is trapped in a gap between layers of bedrock and cools to form a sheet of rock).
Nakhlites are older than shergottites, with ages of around 1,300 million years old. They are thought to have been ejected from the surface of Mars during one event around 11 million years ago.
Chassignites
Until recently, the Chassigny meteorite, discovered in France in 1815, was the only member of this group. An additional two meteorites, discovered in northwest Africa in 2000 and 2014, are now classed as chassignites. All these meteorites are made of a course-grained igneous rock, called dunite, which mostly contains the mineral olivine.
Unlike other martian meteorites, chassignites have noble gas signatures that are different to the martian atmosphere. Scientists believe that the noble gas signatures in chassignites are from the martian mantle, implying that chassignites formed deep down in the martian crust.
Chassignites have similar formation and ejection ages to the nakhlites. These similarities, along with other mineralogical and chemical evidence, suggest that chassignites and nakhlites may be related. They may have come from the same parent magma and likely originated from a similar area on Mars.
Orthopyroxenite
The only member of this group is Allan Hills (ALH) 84001, discovered in 1984 in Antarctica. ALH 84001 is different from all other martian meteorites, as it is almost entirely composed of orthopyroxene. The meteorite also contains carbonate minerals and phyllosilicates, indicating that it was affected by water at some point in its history. ALH 84001 has had a complicated history, experiencing multiple shock events from impacts on the martian surface, which deformed the texture and mineralogy of the meteorite. It is an unusual meteorite, with openings in the fusion crust that reveal a coarse-grained greenish-grey rock. Controversially, a 1996 study revealed that it contained carbonate globules, which were mistakenly thought at first to be of biological origin.
ALH 84001 is 4.1 billion years old and provides evidence that there was igneous activity in the early history of Mars. The carbonates present in ALH 84001 also suggest that water, and therefore a potentially habitable environment, existed on an early Mars during the Noachian period.
Polymict Breccia
Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, nicknamed Black Beauty due to the shiny black fusion crust on the meteorite’s exterior, was discovered in Morocco in 2011. It is classified as a polymict breccia, meaning that it is composed of fragments of many different rocks and minerals. The different fragments and clasts in Black Beauty record multiple different igneous and impact events in martian history.
NWA 7034 is one of around 20 paired stones (which also include NWA 11220), meaning that all these meteorites originate from a single rock that broke into several pieces either on ejection from Mars or on entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Scientists have found that the chemical composition of this meteorite matches the composition of the average martian crust, as determined from all the data collected by missions to Mars. This average (bulk) composition also matches some of the soils and rocks measured by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in Gusev Crater. Black Beauty contains the most water of any martian meteorite discovered to date, with around 6000 parts per million of H2O (ten times more than any other martian meteorite).
The average age of all the different fragments that make up NWA 7034 is approximately 2.1 billion years. However, each fragment may have a different age based on how and when it formed on Mars. There are some igneous clasts in the meteorite that contain the mineral zircon, which have been dated to be around 4.4 billion years old. These zircons are evidence that Mars formed a crust at a similar time to the Earth.
Meteorites found on Mars
Earth is not the only place where we find meteorites. Rovers have discovered more than 50 meteorites on the surface of Mars.
Around 80% of meteorites found on Mars have been iron meteorites, but several stony-iron meteorites and some stony candidates (not yet confirmed) have also been discovered. By contrast, most meteorites found on Earth are of the stony type.
The high proportion of iron meteorites discovered on Mars is probably due to the fact that silvery-grey iron meteorites are easier to spot on the red-beige terrain, compared to stony meteorites that are similar in colour to martian rocks. However, iron meteorites may also be more resistant to erosion processes on Mars.
Meteorites found on the surface of Mars can help scientists understand how the martian atmosphere and climate has evolved, and may even hold clues to whether the Red Planet has ever hosted life.
The same types of meteorites fall to Earth and Mars, so any variations in the chemistry and mineralogy of terrestrial and martian meteorites can be attributed to interactions with the different planets’ environments. Studying the full set of meteorites found on Mars can also help create a timeline of the Red Planet’s past.
Deep Dive into Meteorites Found on Mars
What Meteorites Found on Mars Can Tell Us
Martian Atmosphere
The presence of meteorites on Mars indicates that the martian atmosphere is – or once was – dense enough to slow down the falling rocks to speeds where they could survive impact.
![Block Island meteorite found on Mars by NASA's Opportunity Rover.](https://www.europlanet-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Block-Island-scaled.jpg)
Scientists know that, to trap in heat and produce the warmer temperatures needed to sustain liquid water on the surface, the martian atmosphere must once have been much thicker. Large iron meteorites, such as those discovered in Meridiani Planum and in Gale Crater, provide additional evidence that the martian atmosphere must have been denser in the past, or they would not have survived the landing. Further studies of the sizes and ages of meteorites found on Mars could help scientists understand how and when the martian climate changed over the planet’s history.
Martian Atmosphere-Surface Interactions
Iron, stony-iron, and stony meteorite groups contain metallic iron, which makes them sensitive indicators of the presence of water.
![](https://www.europlanet-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Shelter-Island.jpg)
All the meteorites found on Mars show no signs of rust and are relatively pristine. However, the surfaces of some meteorites contain patches of a coating that forms when iron reacts with water and oxygen. The cause of this iron oxidation coating is still being debated by scientists; it may be a result of contact with sub-surface moisture, if the meteorite became partially or fully buried, or it may be due to exposure to moisture from ice deposits.
Scientists can use iron oxidation coatings to make a timeline of how the meteorite has altered since it fell to Mars. Measurements from spectrometers onboard rovers, such as Opportunity, have allowed scientists to estimate that the weathering rate on Mars (the rate at which a rock is eroded and breaks down) is up to ten-thousand times slower (1-4 orders of magnitude) than the weathering rate in Antarctica, where similar meteorites have been found on Earth.
The longest a meteorite has survived on the surface of Earth is estimated to be up to 2 million years. The slower weathering rate on Mars means that meteorites might survive on the martian surface for billions of years. Studies of older meteorites on the surface of Mars may, therefore, shed new light on meteorites on Earth and the formation of the Solar System as a whole.
Past Temperature
By studying the timeline of how meteorites have chemically and physically altered since they landed on Mars, scientists can learn about the planet’s history and martian surface processes.
Some chemical changes in meteorites, like the formation of carbonates, are dependent on temperature. On Earth, calcium carbonates are found only in meteorites that have landed in hot desert environments, and are absent in meteorites recovered from colder climates like Antarctica. Determining the temperature at which carbonates have formed in meteorites on the surface of Mars could provide insights into the history of the martian climate.
Astrobiology
Meteorites impacting Earth or Mars are sterile. However, certain types of stony meteorites (chondrites) have been shown to provide appealing habitats for microorganisms on Earth, since they contain nutrient elements, such as metal and sulphur, and absorb moisture. Chondrites may also have provided habitats for past life on Mars.
Chondrites can preserve microbial fossils and organic molecules. Since meteorites on Mars could potentially hold biosignatures, some scientists argue that they should be considered for a sample return mission along with martian rocks and regolith.
Mars Rovers Meteorite Discovery Highlights
Several rovers have found meteorites on the martian surface.
Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity
The first meteorite identified on another planet was found by the Opportunity rover in 2005. Discovered near debris of Opportunity’s heat shield, in Meridiani Planum, the meteorite was informally named ‘Heat Shield Rock’ (officially recognised as ‘Meridiani Planum’). Data from instruments in the rover’s robotic arm and spectrometer confirmed that the rock is an iron meteorite (type IAB, based on the abundances of the elements gallium, germanium and nickel in the rock).
In 2009, during a traverse to Endeavour Crater, Opportunity discovered two iron meteorites, informally named ‘Block Island’ and ‘Shelter Island’ (officially recognised as ‘Meridiani Planum 006’ and ‘Meridiani Planum 007’), only 700 meters apart. Block Island is 60 cm across. Opportunity’s alpha particle X-ray spectrometer confirmed that the meteorite is rich in iron and nickel. Opportunity’s microscopic imager revealed a fine-scale pattern similar to the Windmanstatten pattern observed on iron meteorites found on Earth. Shelter Island has a distinctive ‘pitted’ texture and is ~47 cm across. Similar to Heat Shield Rock, both these iron meteorites are type IAB.
Opportunity is currently the only rover to discover stony-iron meteorites on the martian surface. Scientists think that four meteorites, which all have chemical and mineralogical similarities, are ‘paired’. This means that they were originally one rock that broke up into separate pieces when falling through the martian atmosphere or during impact.
- Barberton (officially recognised as Meridiani Planum 002) is the first stony-iron meteorite to be identified on Mars. Despite being only about 3 cm long, Opportunity’s alpha particle X-ray spectrometer showed that Barberton has a different chemical composition to the surrounding martian rock.
- Santa Catarina (Meridiani Planum 003) is a brecciated rock (a composite of several fragments) that was found on the rim of Victoria Crater. Opportunity’s Mössbauer spectrometer determined that Santa Catarina is rich in the mineral olivine and contains metallic iron.
- Santorini (Meridiani Planum 004) and Kasos (Meridiani Planum 005) were discovered south of Victoria Crater. Both of these rocks have a similar composition and mineralogy to Barberton and Santa Catarina.
- Due to the technical limitations of the rovers, it is hard to distinguish which sub-group the four meteorites come from. However, they are stony-iron and clearly distinct from the iron meteorites most commonly on the martian surface.
Meteorite finds by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
![Allan Hills and Zhong Shan meteorites found on Mars by NASA's Spirit Rover.](https://www.europlanet-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Allan-Hills-and-Zhong-Shan.jpg)
In 2006, Spirit found two iron meteorites in the Columbia Hills region of Gusev Crater. The meteorites were named ‘Allan Hills’ and ‘Zhong Shan’ after Antarctic research stations (now officially recognised as ‘Gusev Crater 001’ and ‘Gusev Crater 002’ respectively). The local geology, ice-flow, and climatic conditions make Allan Hills a hotspot in Antarctica for finding meteorites, including the famous martian meteorite, Allan Hills (ALH) 84001.
Meteorite finds by NASA’s Curiosity Rover
In 2014, Curiosity found three iron meteorites, informally named ‘Littleton’, ‘Lebanon’, and ‘Lebanon-B’ (officially recognised as Aeolis Palus 001, Aeolis Palus 002 and Aeolis Palus 003 respectively), in close proximity to each other in Gale Crater. The largest, Lebanon, is 2-meters wide. Cavities on the surfaces of the meteorites appear to be due to weathering on the martian surface.
In 2016, Curiosity’s MastCam and ChemCam instruments confirmed that the golf-ball sized ‘Egg Rock’ (officially recognised as Aeolis Mons 001), is an iron meteorite.
In 2023, Curiosity found ‘Cacao’ (awaiting official classification by The Meteoritical Society), a 30cm silvery-grey meteorite that stands out very prominently against the martian surface near Mount Sharp. Analysis with the MastCam cameras and ChemCam lasers confirmed that Cacao is an iron meteorite.
Why do we need Mars Sample Return if we have Mars Meteorites?
Meteorites do not give a complete picture of the surface geology of Mars.
Martian meteorites found on Earth represent a very small sample of all the rocks on Mars. Scientists do not know the exact locations of their origin on the martian surface. All martian meteorites found to date are igneous and predominantly basaltic in composition. However, we know from data sent back by Mars missions that sedimentary rocks and other types of igneous rocks are present.
Scientists study martian meteorites to understand more about the formation and evolution of Mars, going right back to the early Solar System. Analysis of martian meteorites has provided insights into numerous planetary processes, such as exactly when the accretion and differentiation of Mars occurred, how long the planet was volcanically active, the chemical diversity of the martian mantle, the timing of when the martian surface was altered by water, and impact processes.
The Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, is currently collecting over 30 diverse samples of rock, soil and atmosphere from carefully chosen locations at Jezero Crater. Bringing this well-characterised set of samples back to Earth will be a game-changer in helping scientists better understand the geology and the evolution of Mars.
References
References for martian meteorites
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- Martian Meteorites (virtualmicroscope.org)
- http://elementsmagazine.org/archives/e10_3/e10_3_dep_cosmoelements.pdf
- https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jan/03/mars-meteor-water-sahara-analysis
- https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/antmet/mmc/SaU005.pdf
References for meteorites found on Mars
- https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/types-of-meteorites.html
- https://geobites.org/cacao-meteorite-and-other-fe-ni-meteorites-on-mars/
- https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/27283/curiosity-finds-a-meteorite-cacao/
- https://www.independent.co.uk/space/nasa-curiosity-rover-mars-metallic-object-b2277934.html
- https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/February-2012/Stony-meteorites-of-Mars
- ‘Block Island’ Meteorite | NASA Solar System Exploration
- Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Press Release Images: Opportunity (nasa.gov)
- Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Press Releases (nasa.gov)
- NASA – Possible Meteorite in ‘Columbia Hills’ on Mars Curiosity Finds Iron Meteorite on Mars | NASA
- Curiosity Mars Rover Checks Odd-looking Iron Meteorite (nasa.gov)
- Mars Meteorites: Photos of Meteorites Found by the Mars Rovers (geology.com)
- Opportunity Rover Finds an Iron Meteorite on Mars (nasa.gov)
- Mars Meteorite: Oileán Ruaidh | NASA Solar System Exploration
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