Martian Meteorites

I'm still working on The Rock From Mars as I mentioned in my last post. I'm also learning two new probe/SEM software packages and IDL (interactive data language) to better work with my own Martian meteorite data. One of the projects I've undertaken is looking at the impact glass composition of EETA79001, which is the sample by which the group of SNC meteorites were determined to be from Mars. Bogard and Johnson (1983) analyzed the noble gas abundances trapped in the meteorite and found them to be almost identical to the Martian atmospheric composition measured by Viking.

Figure from Pepin's (1985) paper showing the correlation of gas compositions from EETA79001 and Mars's atmosphere. Pepin's work built on and expanded that of Bogard and Johnson (1983).

In the interim, Andrew Moseman summarizes responses to the new Mars meteorite ALH84001 study at 80beats.