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NASA-funded study dates Sahara Mars meteorite at 4.1 billion years
NASA-funded researchers said a rose-colored rock found in Mali in 2022, Teghaza 001, formed more than 4.1 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest known Martian meteorites.
Wire reporting: (Reuters, via CNA)
NASA-funded scientists said a rose-colored meteorite found in the Sahara Desert in 2022 formed more than 4.1 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest known rocks from Mars on Earth1.
The nearly 2-pound (800-gram) stone, named Teghaza 001 after a salt plain in Mali where it was discovered, is one of roughly 435 identified Martian meteorites, NASA said1.
Researchers published an initial characterization Thursday in the journal Science, NASA said, describing a snapshot of Mars’ ancient crust1. A separate paper in Science Advances in June detailed the meteorite’s water content1.
Lead author Yang Liu of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said, “It was only after we started looking closely that we realized this meteorite is really unique”1.
NASA said Teghaza 001 is one of the three most ancient Martian meteorites found on Earth, set apart by texture, age and igneous minerals that record crust forming from cooling magma and later alteration by subsurface water1.
Co-author Lee Saper, who did the work as a JPL postdoctoral scholar and is now at NASA Ames, said the sample is crust from a part of Mars not previously represented in meteorites1.
University of New Mexico researchers had identified the rock as Martian from oxygen isotopes matching other Mars meteorites, NASA said; it initially appeared to be a shergottite1. Age-dating showed alteration by Martian water around 4.1 billion years ago, implying earlier formation1.
NASA said the mineralogy matches observations of Mars’ cratered southern highlands by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the paper lists several potential origin sites; the exact launch site is unknown1. Channel News Asia and Reuters also reported the 4.1-billion-year age in headlines; their full articles were not retrieved for this filing2,3.
