The history of the planet Mars can also be researched on earth: with the help of Marsmeteorite. One research group has now again examined and found that one, with the scientific identification NWA 7034, has now examined and determined where exactly the rock comes from on the red planet. The volcanic material was thrown away by Mars five to ten million years ago when an asteroid hit. The basaltic breczie itself is around 4.5 billion years old and is one of the oldest known Mars rock, as a team led by Anthony Lagain from Curtin University in Perth in the specialist journal "Nature Communications". Future studies of the region of origin on Mars could therefore reveal more about the origin of the red planet.
Based on the meteorite's chemical signature and structure, Lagain and his team have determined its possible places of origin. To do this, they programmed an algorithm that evaluates surface images of Mars and identifies smaller craters. In this way, the team found about 90 million craters, some with a diameter of only about 50 meters.
In the case of NWA 7034, the working group found: an impact that created the approximately 40 kilometer-wide Khujirt crater about 1.5 billion years ago, the basaltic breczie revealed. Another impact of an asteroid five to ten million years ago ensured that the rock was thrown into space as a meteorite and then went down on earth. The structure that astronomers have named as Karratha crater lies like the Khujirt crater in the northeast of the Mars regions Terra Cimmeria and Terra Sirenum.
According to the results of the study, this area would be a worthwhile place for further research to find out more about the formation of Mars. "We assume that the clasts [rock fragments] contained in the breccia are representative of the origin from the Terra Cimmeria and Terra Sirenum region. This makes this region a relic of early processes of formation of the Martian crust and an area of great interest for future missions," the study says.
The Marsmeteorite NWA 7034 - NWA describes the site "Northwest Africa" (Northwest Africa) - was found in the Sahara in 2011. The chunk, which also operates under the nickname Black Beauty because of its black color, weighs about 320 grams. The chemical composition of the meteorite shows that the rock was created by volcanic processes.
