Nov 18, 2020 05:48 AM
(This post was last modified: Nov 18, 2020 05:49 AM by C C.)
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-ancient-zi...eveal.html
EXCERPTS: . . . “We were quite surprised and excited when we found so many zircons in this Martian meteorite. Zircon are incredibly durable crystals that can be dated and preserve information that tell us about their origins. Having access to so many zircons is like opening a time window into the geologic history of the planet,” describes Professor Martin Bizzarro from the GLOBE Institute, who led the study.
[...] “These young ages were a great surprise”, says Bizzarro. “The Black Beauty meteorite is believed to come from the southern hemisphere of Mars, which does not have any young volcanic terrains. The only possible source for these young zircons is the Tharsis volcanic province located in the northern hemisphere of the planet, which contains large volcanoes that were recently active,” Martin Bizzarro adds.
The Tharsis bulge on Mars is an enormous volcanic province that hosts the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, which are up to 21 km high. Scientists believe that this volcanic province is the expression of very deep magmatism that erupts on the planet´s surface. The analogy on Earth is the Hawaiian volcanic chain of islands, which is also believed to reflect deep-seated volcanic activity. But because of plate tectonics, the Pacific Plate is constantly moving such that, instead of accumulating at one single location, a chain of progressively younger volcanic islands has formed. Since Mars does not have plate tectonics, the volcanoes pile up at one single location and as a result grow to gigantic sizes.
If Bizzarro’s team is correct, it means that the young zircons may contain information about the deep, inaccessible interior of Mars. This is the first time that scientists have direct access to the deep interior of the red planet via these samples, which may allow them to uncover the internal structure and composition of Mars.
“Having samples of the deep interior of Mars is key. This means that we can now use these zircons to probe the origin of the volatile elements on Mars, including its water, and see how it compares with Earth and other planets in the Solar System,” explains Mafalda Costa, first other of the new study... (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: . . . “We were quite surprised and excited when we found so many zircons in this Martian meteorite. Zircon are incredibly durable crystals that can be dated and preserve information that tell us about their origins. Having access to so many zircons is like opening a time window into the geologic history of the planet,” describes Professor Martin Bizzarro from the GLOBE Institute, who led the study.
[...] “These young ages were a great surprise”, says Bizzarro. “The Black Beauty meteorite is believed to come from the southern hemisphere of Mars, which does not have any young volcanic terrains. The only possible source for these young zircons is the Tharsis volcanic province located in the northern hemisphere of the planet, which contains large volcanoes that were recently active,” Martin Bizzarro adds.
The Tharsis bulge on Mars is an enormous volcanic province that hosts the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, which are up to 21 km high. Scientists believe that this volcanic province is the expression of very deep magmatism that erupts on the planet´s surface. The analogy on Earth is the Hawaiian volcanic chain of islands, which is also believed to reflect deep-seated volcanic activity. But because of plate tectonics, the Pacific Plate is constantly moving such that, instead of accumulating at one single location, a chain of progressively younger volcanic islands has formed. Since Mars does not have plate tectonics, the volcanoes pile up at one single location and as a result grow to gigantic sizes.
If Bizzarro’s team is correct, it means that the young zircons may contain information about the deep, inaccessible interior of Mars. This is the first time that scientists have direct access to the deep interior of the red planet via these samples, which may allow them to uncover the internal structure and composition of Mars.
“Having samples of the deep interior of Mars is key. This means that we can now use these zircons to probe the origin of the volatile elements on Mars, including its water, and see how it compares with Earth and other planets in the Solar System,” explains Mafalda Costa, first other of the new study... (MORE - details)