Tissint Martian Meteorite: A Fresh Look at the Interior, Surface, and Atmosphere of Mars

H. Chennaoui Aoudjehane (1, 2) , G. Avice (3) , Jean-Alix J-A Barrat (4) , Omar Boudouma (2) , G. Chen (5) , M.J.M. Duke (6) , I.A. Franchi (7) , J. Gattacceca (8) , M.M. Grady (7, 9) , R.C. Greenwood (7) , C.D.K. Herd (5) , R. Hewins (10) , Albert Jambon (2) , B. Marty (3) , P. Rochette (8) , C.L. Smith (9, 11, 12) , V. Sautter (10) , A. Verchovsky (7) , P. Weber (13) , B. Zanda (10)

1 Faculty of Sciences, Géosciences Appliquées à l'Ingénierie et l'Aménagement (GAIA) Laboratory
2 iSTeP - Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris
3 CRPG - Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques
4 LDO - Domaines Océaniques
5 Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences [Edmonton]
6 SLOWPOKE Nuclear Reactor Facility
7 PSSRI - Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute [Milton Keynes]
8 CEREGE - Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement
9 Department of Mineralogy
10 LMCM - Laboratoire de Minéralogie et Cosmochimie du Muséum
11 ESTEC - European Space Research and Technology Centre
12 ESA Harwell centre
13 Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics

Tissint (Morocco) is the fifth martian meteorite collected after it was witnessed falling to Earth. Our integrated mineralogical, petrological, and geochemical study shows that it is a depleted picritic shergottite similar to EETA79001A. Highly magnesian olivine and abundant glass containing martian atmosphere are present in Tissint. Refractory trace element, sulfur, and fluorine data for the matrix and glass veins in the meteorite indicate the presence of a martian surface component. Thus, the influence of in situ martian weathering can be unambiguously distinguished from terrestrial contamination in this meteorite. Martian weathering features in Tissint are compatible with the results of spacecraft observations of Mars. Tissint has a cosmic-ray exposure age of 0.7 ± 0.3 million years, consistent with those of many other shergottites, notably EETA79001, suggesting that they were ejected from Mars during the same event.

Domains: Geochemistry; Global Changes; Planetology

H. Chennaoui Aoudjehane, G. Avice, Jean-Alix J-A Barrat, Omar Boudouma, G. Chen, et al.. Tissint Martian Meteorite: A Fresh Look at the Interior, Surface, and Atmosphere of Mars. Science, 2012, 338, pp.785-788. ⟨10.1126/science.1224514⟩. ⟨insu-00764528⟩