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The Martian meteorite “Black Beauty” originated from the Karratha volcano in the southern hemisphere of Mars. Photo: NASA
In 2011, one of these meteorites was found in the Sahara Desert. Nicknamed “Black Beauty” due to its dark and vibrant color, this Martian meteorite, named NWA 7034, is believed to be the oldest of its kind that we have. Now, scientists have discovered the source of this exceptional meteorite on Mars. According to Science Alert, the meteorite was ejected from the Karratha volcano on Mars 5-10 million years ago due to a collision with another asteroid.
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The Martian meteorite “Black Beauty.” Photo: NASA
The research team named the volcano Karratha, after an area in Australia where some of the oldest rocks on Earth can be found. Black Beauty was formed nearly 4.5 billion years ago when the crusts of both Earth and Mars were still young. Understanding the geological origin of Black Beauty will allow scientists to compare the formation histories of both Earth and Mars.
Planetary scientist Anthony Lagain from Curtin University in Australia, who leads the international research team, explains: “For the first time, we know the geological context of a unique Martian sample on Earth, meaning it contains various rocks bonded together. This sets it apart from all other meteorites from Mars, which are single rocks.”
“Finding the source region of the Black Beauty meteorite is crucial because it contains some of the oldest Martian debris ever discovered – about 4.48 billion years old – and it shows similarities between the oldest crust on Mars – about 4.53 billion years old – and the continents on Earth today. Identifying the source region of these unique Martian meteorite samples allows us to study the earliest formation of planets, including Earth,” Lagain adds.
So far, about 300 Martian meteorites have been found on Earth. Weighing just 320 grams, Black Beauty is not only the oldest Martian meteorite we have but also the only volcanic one.
Black Beauty is considered a record of the early conditions on Mars, but its exact location on Mars remains a mystery. The red planet has numerous volcanoes, making it extremely challenging to pinpoint the source of a meteorite related to any specific volcano.
To do this, Lagain and his colleagues used a new machine learning algorithm called the Volcano Detection Algorithm developed by Curtin University. Analyzing the size and spatial distribution of 90 million volcano detections made by this algorithm allowed scientists to narrow down the origin of Black Beauty and identify the most likely location on Mars.
The researchers found that the oldest fragments of Black Beauty originated from Mars’ crust about 1.5 billion years ago from a collision that formed the 40 km-long Khujirt volcano in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The material ejected from this collision was then propelled into Earth from Mars by a second collision, forming the smaller, nearly 10 km-wide Karratha volcano 5-10 million years ago.
This research may help determine the launch sites of other meteorites on Mars, providing a more comprehensive view of the geological history of the red planet.
Professor Gretchen Benedix from Curtin University, co-author of the study, stated that the team is also adapting the algorithm to decode other mysteries from the Moon and Mercury. This will shed light on the geological history of planets and answer future questions about the Solar System, such as the Artemis program to return humans to the Moon by the end of the decade or the BepiColombo mission, orbiting around Mercury in 2025.