This is on display at the St.Louis Planetarium.

The only place in the World where you can touch a piece of the Red Planet Mars




SNC - Balsaltic Shergottite - found in Algeria 2007







CLICK ON PICTURE BELOW TO PLAY






The mystery of their origin was finally solved in 1985 after the discovery of trapped gas
inclusions inside the shergottite EETA 79001. Based on data obtained by the Viking probes,
which landed on Mars in 1976, the composition of this trapped gas is identical to the martian atmosphere,
suggesting that the SNCs have their origin on Mars. Meteorite researchers and collectors generally refer
to the Martian rocks as the SNC meteorites - the shergottites, the nakhlites, and the chassignites.

Most identified Martian rocks are the shergottites. Today, after more Mars missions, and comparisons,
it has been proven beyond doubt that the SNCs are indeed genuine samples of our red neighbor,
the planet Mars, and consequently they are also known as Mars meteorites.
Shergottite is named after Shergotty, India, after where this type first fell in 1865.

Martian meteorites are of major scientific importance because they represent the only known samples
of another planet available for research. From a geological point of view, they are most intriguing,
but more importantly, they provide tantalizing clues to the question of the possibility of life on other planets.
Most martian meteorites contain minerals that have been altered by the presence of water, and there are other
types of meteorites that also contain traces of amino acids, the fundamental building blocks of life.

It is never known what will be found in a meteorite, they can contain important clues.

This is a 100% complete individual speciman, and is only part of a larger mass that broke up in the upper atomosphere.
Like all other meteorites that fall, other pieces of the same fall are found in its North West Africa strewnfield.

North West Africa is one of the best places on earth to find meteorites.
The sand and the lack of vegetation along with a dry environment helps to preserve the meteorites
and makes it easy for them to be seen. Nomads travel through the areas and these black rocks are then retrieved in the sand.
There have been thousands of meteorites that have been found in the deserts of Libya, Algeria and Morroco.

This 83 gram individual was sold to me under the NWA number 2975 and is paired with the NWA 2975 and NWA 2986
note that Michael Farmer or Jim Strope can only used the numbers NWA 2975 and NWA 2986.
I don't expect every meteorite found in this strewnfield to get its own number, thats just is not going to happen.

It was purchased at the Denver, Gem and Mineral Show of 2007 from a man named Mohamed Sbai, a Berber Nomad.
There were two pieces of this Mars meteorite was circulating at the time,
I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time

The meteorite shows the same fresh fusion crust and granular volcanic lithology as the
NWA 2975/2986/2987/4766/4783/4857/4864/4880/4930/5140/5214/5219/5313/ etc.etc.etc.etc.
finds with vesicular glass pockets, pyroxene and maskelynitized plagioclase.

NWA 4857 (Algeria, Shergottite enr maf), 0.928 g in collection; tkw:1@24 g:
....Paired with NWA 2975 (70.1 g), NWA 2986
(170 g), NWA 2987 (82 g), NWA 4766 (225 g), NWA
4783 (120 g), NWA 4864 (94 g), NWA 4878 (130 g),
NWA 4880 (81.6 g), NWA 4930 (117.5 g), NWA 5140
(7.5 g), NWA 5214 (50.7 g), NWA 5219 (60 g),
NWA5313 (5.3 g) and NWA 5366 (39.6 g).

Cumulated tkw: 1273.3 g (as per Jan. 2010)


A detailed paper on  NWA 2975  (pdf) was published at the LPSC 37
by J. Wittke, T. Bunch et al. in March 2006

83 gram - Martian Meteorite

This 100% whole complete piece
is among some of the freshest Martian Meteorites ever found.



 The Meteorite Pusher at Work 




INTERNATIONAL METEORITE COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION
Authenticity GUARANTEED * Click the image above
Since May 1997

BACK TO MIDWEST METEORITES