[meteorite-list] 2nd Largest Mars Meteorite Found By Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:02:26 2004
Message-ID: <200203100404.UAA14010_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

The meteorites referred to in this article are Y000593 and Y000749, the
two nakhlites I reported on back in January.

Ron Baalke

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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20020310wo72.htm

2nd-biggest meteorite from Mars found by JARE
Yomiuri Shimbun
The Daily Yomiuri (Japan)
March 9, 2002

A Japanese expedition team has found in the Antarctic what is believed to be
the world's second-largest meteorite from Mars, the National Institute of
Polar Research told The Yomiuri Shimbun on Saturday.

The finding will be officially reported at a conference on the research of
moons and planets to open Monday in the United States.

So far, there have been a total of 27 cases of reported discoveries of
Martian meterorites on Earth.

According to the institute, the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition
(JARE) team collected a total of 3,550 meteorites from November 2000 through
January 2001 around the Yamato Mountains, about 300 kilometers southwest of
Showa Station, the JARE team's base, in the Antarctic.

The institute and the Laboratory for Earthquake Chemistry at Tokyo
University's graduate school of science studied the meteorites and concluded
two of them came from Mars, because they contain silicate crystals and some
kinds of gasses not found in rocks and stones on Earth.

One of them weighs 13.7 kilograms and is considered the second-largest
Martian meteorite found on Earth after one discovered in Zagami, Nigeria, in
1962, which weighs 18 kilograms, the scientists said.

Its surface is covered with a black igneous layer, but underneath it is dark
green, they said.

The other one weighs only 1.3 kilograms. They were found on different dates
and are believed to have fallen to Earth separately.

Some of the minerals contained in the meteorites also show traces of changes
apparently resulting from exposure to water, suggesting the possibility that
Mars had large seas, according to the scientists.

An analysis of the very small amount of gases in the meteorites shows that
the meteorites were ejected into space 8.7 million to 13 million years ago.

The scientists are hoping to find more in the meteorites, including gases of
the atmosphere of Mars and underground Martian gases as well as traces of
organic life.
Received on Sat 09 Mar 2002 11:04:11 PM PST