[meteorite-list] EETA 79001 and the Martian Atmosphere

Fri Feb 11 04:31:06 EST 2011

It's been quite a few years since I've looked up close at this piece but 
here's a Ureilite with something similar.

http://www.meteorites.com.au/features/nwa2624.html

Cheers,

Jeff

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Montgomery" <rickmont at earthlink.net>
To: <cdtucson at cox.net>; "Martin Altmann" <altmann at meteorite-martin.de>; 
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 6:42 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] EETA 79001 and the Martian Atmosphere

> 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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