because it is igneous, contains important information about the water, including the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen in it. Apatite is altered by water relatively easily, so might record a wet weathering event on Mars, but usually we can see evidence for that, such as tattered margins and compositional changes at those margins. NWA 7034 has excellent igneous apatite in unusual rock fragments, such as the one shown below. The value of determining the OH content of apatite is explained more fully in the PSRD article: How Much Water is Inside Mars.
|Backscatter electron image of a rock clast in NWA 7034 that contains ilmenite (white), apatite (light gray crystals), plagioclase feldspar (gray), and potassium feldspar (dark gray). The OH and deuterium to hydrogen ratio can be measured in the apatite crystals by secondary ion mass spectrometry.|
Martian meteorites continued to be found by national Antarctic programs and private collecting expeditions, such as the one that led from Aziz Habibi to Jay Piatek to Carl Agee. Many of the rocks are similar to those we already have, but the unique properties of NWA 7034 show that continuing to search will yield more than the same old, same old Martian meteorites. It is likely that additional new types will be found eventually. Of course, we could always send spacecraft to fetch samples for us!
|Field photograph of the MIL 03346 Martian meteorite [Data Link from the Meteoritical Bulletin] collected by the Antarctic Search for Meteorites Program (ANSMET) on an ice field in the Miller Range, Antarctica in 2003. Click for more information. Continued searches for meteorites are likely to yield additional new types of Martian meteorites, and other types of meteorites as well.|
[ About PSRD | Archive | CosmoSparks | Search | Subscribe ]
[ Glossary | General Resources | Comments | Top of page ] Share