Black Beauty: Unique Martian Meteorite – a Match for Average Martian Crust Carl B

Home , Amazonian (Mars), Gill (Martian crater), Total known weight

Black Beauty: Unique Martian Meteorite – a Match for Average Martian Crust Carl B. Agee Institute of Meteoritics and Dept. Earth and Planetary Sciences, Univ. New Mexico

NWA 7034 Martian Meteorite (Basaltic Breccia), Single Stone, 320 grams, find: Western Sahara 2011, shown also two pairings of “Black Beauty” Agee, 8th Mars Conference Agee, 8th Mars Conference Western Sahara

Agee, 8th Mars Conference NWA 7034 “Pairing Group” includes:

NWA 7034 NWA 7475 NWA 7533 (Humayun et al. 2013) NWA 7906 NWA 8114 NWA 8171

These are all stones from the same meteoroid.

Total known weight ~1.5 kg

Agee, 8th Mars Conference LUNAR FELDSPATHIC HOWARDITE BRECCIA NWA 6817 NWA 2995

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Igneous Clasts

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Secondary Alteration Objects

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Numerous spherules throughout: micron to centimeter scale

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Mineralogy of NWA 7034 (n=18)

Plagioclase Feldspar Alkali Feldspar 6mm Pyroxenes (3) Magnetite Maghemite Ilmenite Ferrihydrite Clay minerals (phyllosilicate) Cl-rich apatite Chromite Pyrite Merrillite Red=Fe Rutile Blue=Al Zircon Green=Mg Baddelyite Olivine

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Mineralogy of NWA 7034 (n=18)

Plagioclase Feldspar Alkali Feldspar 6mm Pyroxenes (3) Magnetite Maghemite WATER BEARING Ilmenite Ferrihydrite Clay minerals (phyllosilicate) Cl-rich apatite Chromite Pyrite Merrillite Rutile Zircon Baddelyite Olivine

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Mineralogy of NWA 7034 (n=18)

Agee, 8th Mars Conference NWA 7034 Bulk Composition Matches “Martian Crust” from Rover and Orbiter

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Black Beauty Breccia: Mars Geological Field Area Contained in a Hand Sample

(see Santos et al. Poster)

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Martian Atmosphere in NWA 7043

Cartwright et al. (EPSL, 2014)

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Martian Atmosphere in NWA 7043

Cartwright et al. (EPSL, 2014)

Argon in Black Beauty similar to Curiosity values

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Oxygen Isotopes

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Rb-Sr: 2.1 Ga formation age of NWA 7034: Early Amazonian Mars

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Sm-Nd : 4.4 Ga formation age of NWA 7034: Early Noachian Mars

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Nyquist et al. 2013 Zircon ages: ~1.5 and 4.4 billion years

*~4.4 Ga zircon ages in Black Beauty were first reported by Humayun et al., Nature, 2013.

Scale: 1-inch round thin section

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Agee, 8th Mars Conference NWA 7034 has extraterrestrial δD and up to ~6000 ppm indigenous (martian) water. (shergottites have ~100’s ppm)

Aqueous alteration of near surface materials on Mars: Early Amazonian Epoch, Early Noachian?

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Which minerals harbor the ~6000 ppm water in NWA 7034?

1-2% Ferrihydrite = 1100 ppm

5% Maghemite = 1000 ppm

BSE image of Fe-oxide rich spherule 1% Phyllosilicate = 1900 ppm

BF STEM image showing fine-crystalline matrix

5% Cl-rich Apatite = 150 ppm

Agee, 8th Mars Conference HRTEM image of detected phyllosilicate Where did the water in NWA 7034 come from?

Arctic plains of northern Mars on May 25, 2008 Impact induced?

Volcano induced?

Permafrost on northeastern Spitsbergen, Svalbard Early Amazonian? Agee, 8th Mars Conference SURFACE WATER

Early Noachian?

Agee, 8th Mars Conference Credits: Kevin Gill “Black Beauty” expands our understanding of Mars from studies of Martian meteorites.

Multiple igneous rock types from Noachian.

Secondary alteration materials show rock interaction with the Martian hydrosphere.

Black Beauty is first meteorite that resembles rocks that rovers are sampling in outcrop on Mars.

X-ray Tomography, 2.2 micron voxels

Agee, 8th Mars ConferenceDoug Rowland (UC Davis)