Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery inside a Martian meteorite.
The international team of scientists found garnet grains, a mineral not previously identified in a sample from Mars.
The meteorite identified as NWA 8171 is held in the Royal Ontario Museum’s collection. When they cracked the small fragment, about 0.8 by 0.5 mm, they found an unexpected mineral inside.
Tania Kizovski of Brock University said: “This little part of the meteorite looked really interesting and the chemistry was a little strange.”
“At first we assumed it was a mineral called pyroxene, which is very common, but then we decided to take a second look,” she added.
The second study showed that the mineral was andradite, which is an iron-based type of garnet. Unlike the deep red color of Earth’s gems, this Martian variety has a greenish-yellow color.
Garnet on Earth forms when it is exposed to high temperatures, pressures or chemical changes not found on Mars until now. This find raises many questions about whether the garnet formed there and how it formed.
Garnets are excellent historians because they have information about temperature, pressure and other factors involved in their formation. This could tell us more about the history of the planet in the last 4.5 billion years.
