Ancient Martian Meteorite Found in Morocco Reveals Clues to Early Warm Climate

Researchers from IPGP, CNRS and the University of Paris conducted this study published on October 30, 2020 in Science Advances. They found that 4.4 billion years ago, the young Martian atmosphere was warm enough to maintain liquid water.

"Numerous geomorphological evidence from observations made by space missions shows that liquid water flowed on the surface of Mars very early in the planet’s history (more than 3.7 billion years ago). However, this presence of liquid water remains an enigma, since at that time our Sun was 30% weaker in terms of energy production than it is today and did not warm the red planet enough to maintain liquid water," says the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) in a press release.

One meteorite is of particular interest to scientists: the Martian meteorite NWA 7533, also nicknamed "Black Beauty," the same source points out, noting that this meteorite, a fragment of Martian rocks ejected during an impact, arrived on Earth after a long interplanetary journey and was discovered in 2011 in Morocco. "Black Beauty" is unique (among the some 300 Martian meteorites found so far) in its chemical composition similar to the rocks of the southern hemisphere of Mars, and also in the fact that it contains the oldest fragments of the Martian crust known, dating back to 4.4 billion years, the press release details.

The analysis of this particular meteorite has allowed scientists from the University of Paris, IPGP and CNRS and their colleagues from the universities of Western Brittany, Copenhagen and Tokyo to find clues about the mechanism that would have allowed to maintain a warm climate on the surface of Mars during the "young weak Sun" period, the same source continues.