[meteorite-list] EETA 79001 and the Martian Atmosphere

Wed Feb 9 14:42:37 EST 2011

Hi List.  (Sorry if this is a duplicate post.)  I have the remnants of a 
550gr Brahin slice that definitely has bubbles in the olivine in a few 
spots.  Any comments?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <cdtucson at cox.net>
To: "Martin Altmann" <altmann at meteorite-martin.de>; 
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 11:24 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] EETA 79001 and the Martian Atmosphere

> Martin,List,
> Interesting that you mention bubbles in Maskelynite.
> I have a great picture taken by Tom Phillips of an amazing "River Of 
> Maskelynite With Bubbles"
> Although this is from an unclassified meteorite it does check out pretty 
> well both visually in thin section but, the chemistry is also correct for 
> either a Lunar or a Martian meteorite,
> I'm sure Blain won't mind me mentioning that;
> At this Tucson Gem Show  Blain Reed has acquired an amazing piece of 
> hardware.
> It is called an XRF for X-ray Florescence. This is a hand held portable 
> gun like instrument that when held up to the rock gives you an average of 
> the chemistry it sniffs out of the rock.
> Blain was kind enough to use this machine  to collect reading from known 
> Lunar rocks in his collection (this way he knows they are in fact Lunar's) 
> With this info he can compare the Known data with new Candidates. This for 
> a small fee and it only takes about a minute. AMAZING . Blain rocks.
> In this way he has determined that this rock I show here with the "river 
> Of Maskelynite and Bubbles" has a very good chance at being either Lunar 
> of Martian. Apparently they are quite similar in this way.
> Although, The Numbers are dead on Lunar for this one. .
> Not only are the bulk amounts correct but so, are the Ratios. Especially 
> the Fe/ Mn and so forth.
> Please see the attached pics and share your opinion.
> Any Scientists out there want to take a look?
> I also have another that Tom Phillips photographed that also checks out 
> both Chemically and petrographically as Lunar or Martian  but, with no 
> visible river yet? It looks like mostly Olivine? But this ones Fe/Mn is 
> definitely in the Martian Range. Very Cool.
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/13030472@N07/?saved=1
>
> Any and all comments welcome.
> Email for more pics.
> Best regards,
> Carl
> Carl or Debbie Esparza
> Meteoritemax
>
>
> ---- Martin Altmann <altmann at meteorite-martin.de> wrote:
>> Hi Walter,
>>
>> only a remark...   for not being the same thing like with the ominous 
>> purple
>> halite-crystals containing liquid water in Zag,
>> which are described in literature - but so far noooooone of the 
>> collectors
>> ever found one in any of their 175kgs of slices...  :-)
>>
>> Those inclusions in the Martian shock glasses - you can really have them 
>> as
>> a collector too!!
>>
>> The fresh-shergottite-series - NWA 2975/2986/4766 seq..
>> there the maskelynite is still so fresh, that it is translucent.
>> So it's possible without special equipment and special preparation to 
>> spot
>> these inclusions in the maskelynite with a simple microscope under low
>> magnification in cut surfaces.
>>
>> And you know what? Here and there these maskelynite patches contain 
>> little
>> bubbles!
>>
>> A while ago a collector loaded up a photo he made from such a bubble out 
>> of
>> that NWA-series in the German forum.
>>
>> Fascinating isn't it?
>>
>> So, dear collectors, I'm sure many of you have samples form that Martian,
>> let's hunt for bubbles!
>>
>>
>> Best!
>> Martin
>>
>> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
>> Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
>> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von 
>> Walter
>> Branch
>> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 9. Februar 2011 04:31
>> An: MeteorList
>> Betreff: [meteorite-list] EETA 79001 and the Martian Atmosphere
>>
>> Hello Everyone,
>>
>> I feel like an idiot.
>>
>> I know that trapped atmospheric gases have been found in some martian
>> meteorites but for some unexplained reason, I had always thought that the
>> gases had been incorporated in the rock at the time of formation. I 
>> always
>> wondered how gases from the martian atmosphere could have been trapped in 
>> a
>> rock at the time it formed, particularly an igneous rock in an 
>> underground
>> magma chamber.
>>
>> Well, thanks to William Cassidy, the man who founded ANSMET, I now 
>> realize
>> my assumption was wrong. Cassidy makes it clear that gasses became 
>> trapped
>> in martian rocks at the time of the impact which launched the rock from 
>> the
>> surface. The rather lengthy quote below is from Cassidy's book 
>> "Meteorites,
>> Ice and Antarctica" an excellent book (see more after the quote).
>>
>> >From pages 119-121
>>
>> EETA 79001 was an important find for another reason. It contained proof 
>> that
>>
>> SNC meteorites come from Mars. This meteorite had been highly shocked 
>> during
>>
>> the impact that ejected it from the martian surface, and one of the shock
>> effects was to produce pods of glass that had been melted from the
>> constituent minerals of the meteorite by the transient heating generated 
>> by
>> shock pressures. The melts that were formed were partly injected along
>> cracks in the rock and partly retained as molten beads at the sites where
>> they formed. Cooling occurred immediately behind the shock wave and the
>> beads were chilled to glass before they could crystalize. Apparently the
>> crater forming asteroid had built up a lense off compressed atmosphere in
>> front of it during it's lengthy trajectory toward the surface of the 
>> planet.
>>
>> When it struck the surface it injected highly compressed air into the 
>> target
>>
>> rock, and some of this was trapped in the shock-melted inclusions. We 
>> know
>> the composition of the martian atmosphere from measurements made by 
>> Viking
>> Landers I and II. When some of the glass inclusions were picked out of 
>> EETA
>> 79001 and remelted, the gave up their dissolved gases. These gasses when
>> analyzed and corrected for slight terrestrial contamination, contained
>> nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the same abundances as the atmosphere of
>> Mars; they also had isotopes of argon, neon, , krypton, and xenon in the
>> same abundances as does the martian atmosphere. This neat bit of 
>> detective
>> work by a number of workers, for the first time tied a SNC meteorite
>> directly to the planet Mars and, through this meteorite, to all the other
>> meteorites.
>>
>> I love Cassidy's book. If you like meteorites in general, martian and 
>> lunar
>> meteorites (like me) and are curious about the ANSMET program and you 
>> don't
>> have a copy of this book, you are really missing out. The book is a gold
>> mine of information regarding ANSMET. It is very readable, technical in 
>> some
>>
>> places, humorous in others and poignant in others. Some books I love 
>> holding
>>
>> and reading and this is one of those books. It is hardbound with glossy
>> pages and nicely illustrated. I like the physical proportion of the book 
>> and
>>
>> I even like the dust jacket (I usually abhor dust jackets).
>>
>> Anyway, many thanks to Dr. Cassidy for clearing that up with me and 
>> thanks
>> for writing such a wonderful book.
>>
>> -Walter Branch
>>
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