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Science 27 October 2000:
Vol. 290. no. 5492, pp. 791 - 795
DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5492.791
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Reports

A Low Temperature Transfer of ALH84001 from Mars to Earth

Benjamin P. Weiss,1* Joseph L. Kirschvink,1 Franz J. Baudenbacher,2 Hojatollah Vali,3 Nick T. Peters,2 Francis A. Macdonald,1 John P. Wikswo2

The ejection of material from Mars is thought to be caused by large impacts that would heat much of the ejecta to high temperatures. Images of the magnetic field of martian meteorite ALH84001 reveal a spatially heterogeneous pattern of magnetization associated with fractures and rock fragments. Heating the meteorite to 40°C reduces the intensity of some magnetic features, indicating that the interior of the rock has not been above this temperature since before its ejection from the surface of Mars. Because this temperature cannot sterilize most bacteria or eukarya, these data support the hypothesis that meteorites could transfer life between planets in the solar system.

1 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, 170-25, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, 6301 Stevenson Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
3 Electron Microscopy Centre, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, 3640 University Street, Montreal QC H3A 2B2, Canada.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bweiss{at}gps.caltech.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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D. Faivre, N. Menguy, F. Guyot, O. Lopez, and P. Zuddas (2005)
American Mineralogist 90, 1793-1800
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Martian Surface Paleotemperatures from Thermochronology of Meteorites.
D. L. Shuster and B. P. Weiss (2005)
Science 309, 594-600
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Experimental determination of siderite stability and application to Martian Meteorite ALH84001.
A. M. Koziol and A. M. Koziol (2004)
American Mineralogist 89, 294-300
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The enigma of the origin of life and its timing.
M. A. Line (2002)
Microbiology 148, 21-27
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)