Boom boom pow: Shock-facilitated aqueous alteration and evidence for two shock events in the Martian nakhlite meteoritesOPEN ACCESS 

· by · in , , ,

ByL. Daly, M. R. Lee, S. Piazolo, S. Griffin, M. Bazargan, F. Campanale, P. Chung, B. E. Cohen, A. E. Pickersgill, L. J. Hallis, P. W. Trimby, R. Baumgartner, L. V. Forman, G. K. Benedix

Science Advances 04 Sep 2019:
Vol. 5, no. 9, eaaw5549
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw5549

LINK (OPEN ACCESS)
PDF (OPEN ACCESS)

“Nakhlite meteorites are ~1.4 to 1.3 Ga old igneous rocks, aqueously altered on Mars ~630 Ma ago. We test the theory that water-rock interaction was impact driven. Electron backscatter diffraction demonstrates that the meteorites Miller Range 03346 and Lafayette were heterogeneously deformed, leading to localized regions of brecciation, plastic deformation, and mechanical twinning of augite. Numerical modeling shows that the pattern of deformation is consistent with shock-generated compressive and tensile stresses. Mesostasis within shocked areas was aqueously altered to phyllosilicates, carbonates, and oxides, suggesting a genetic link between the two processes. We propose that an impact ~630 Ma ago simultaneously deformed the nakhlite parent rocks and generated liquid water by melting of permafrost. Ensuing water-rock interaction focused on shocked mesostasis with a high density of reactive sites. The nakhlite source location must have two spatially correlated craters, one ~630 Ma old and another, ejecting the meteorites, ~11 Ma ago.”

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. The Northwest Africa (NWA) 5790 meteorite: A mesostasis-rich nakhlite with little or no Martian aqueous alteration (OPEN ACCESS)
  2. Aqueous alteration of the Martian meteorite Northwest Africa 817: Probing fluid–rock interaction at the nakhlite launch siteOPEN ACCESS 
  3. Formation of iddingsite veins in the martian crust by centripetal replacement of olivine: Evidence from the nakhlite meteorite Lafayette (OPEN ACCESS PDF)
  4. Understanding the emplacement of Martian volcanic rocks using petrofabrics of the nakhlite meteorites
  5. Multiple Aqueous Events in the Nakhlite Meteorite North West Africa (NWA) 817
  6. Paleointensity and Rock Magnetism of Martian Nakhlite Meteorite Miller Range (MIL) 03346: Evidence for Intense Small Scale Crustal Magnetization on Mars
  7. Redox-driven exsolution of iron-titanium oxides in magnetite in Miller Range (MIL) 03346 nakhlite: Evidence for post crystallization oxidation in the nakhlite cumulate pile?
  8. Ferric saponite and serpentine in the nakhlite martian meteorites
  9. Caleta el Cobre 022 Martian meteorite: Increasing nakhlite diversityOPEN ACCESS 
  10. Record of low-temperature aqueous alteration of Martian zircon during the late AmazonianOPEN ACCESS 
Tags: , , , ,