Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 12 August 1983:
Vol. 221. no. 4611, pp. 651 - 654
DOI: 10.1126/science.221.4611.651
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Martian Gases in an Antarctic Meteorite?

D. D. BOGARD 1 and P. JOHNSON 1

1 Planetary and Earth Sciences Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058

Significant abundances of trapped argon, krypton, and xenon have been measured in shock-altered phases of the achondritic meteorite Elephant Moraine 79001 from Antarctica. The relative elemental abundances, the high ratios of argon-40 to argon-36 (ge 2000), and the high ratios of xenon-129 to xenon-132 (ge 2.0) of the trapped gas more closely resemble Viking data for the martian atmosphere than data for noble gas components typically found in meteorites. These findings support earlier suggestions, made on the basis of geochemical evidence, that shergottites and related rare meteorites may have originated from the planet Mars.

Submitted on December 13, 1982
Revised on April 4, 1983


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Oxygen Cycle of the Terrestrial Planets: Insights into the Processing and History of Oxygen in Surface Environments.
J. Farquhar and D. T. Johnston (2008)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 68, 463-492
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Redox Conditions on Small Bodies, the Moon and Mars.
M. Wadhwa (2008)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 68, 493-510
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The carbon cycle on early Earth--and on Mars?.
M. M Grady and I. Wright (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 1703-1713
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The SNC meteorites: basaltic igneous processes on Mars.
J.C. Bridges and P.H. Warren (2006)
Journal of the Geological Society 163, 229-251
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The history of research on meteorites from Mars.
M. M. Grady (2006)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 256, 405-416
   Abstract »    PDF »
An Overview of Noble Gas Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry.
D. Porcelli, C. J. Ballentine, and R. Wieler (2002)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 47, 1-19
   Full Text »    PDF »
Martian Noble Gases.
T. D. Swindle (2002)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 47, 171-190
   Full Text »    PDF »
Geology: from an Earth to a planetary science in the twentieth century.
U. B. Marvin (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 192, 17-57
   Abstract »    PDF »
Stable Isotope Variations in Extraterrestrial Materials.
K. D. McKeegan, K. D. McKeegan, and L. A. Leshin (2001)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 43, 279-318
   Full Text »    PDF »
Signatures of the martian atmosphere in glass of the Zagami meteorite.
K Marti, J. Kim, A. Thakur, T. McCoy, and K Keil (1995)
Science 267, 1981-1984
   Abstract »    PDF »
Early Mars: How Warm and How Wet?.
S. W. Squyres, S. W. Squyres, and J. F. Kasting (1994)
Science 265, 744-749
   Abstract »    PDF »
Water in SNC meteorites: evidence for a martian hydrosphere.
H. Karlsson, R. Clayton, E. Gibson Jr, and T. Mayeda (1992)
Science 255, 1409-1411
   Abstract »    PDF »
Oblique Impact: A Process for Obtaining Meteorite Samples from Other Planets.
J. D. O'Keefe, J. D. O'KEEFE, and T. J. AHRENS (1986)
Science 234, 346-349
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)