New Insights into Source Craters for the Martian Meteorites

Timescales of Shock Processes and the Size of Martian Meteorites Source Craters, Constrained from Shock

The Search for Possible Source Craters for Martian Meteorite Alh84001

ALH84001 is the only martian meteorite currently known with a crystallization age of 4.5 Ga. This ancient age indicates the meteorite must come from the ancient crust of Mars, located primarily in the southern hemisphere of the planet. The 4.56 Ga crystallization age, the 16 Ma ejection, and theoretical models of how material is ejected off Mars were used to identify possible source craters for...

Combining meteorites and missions to explore Mars.

Laboratory studies of meteorites and robotic exploration of Mars reveal scant atmosphere, no evidence of plate tectonics, past evidence for abundant water, and a protracted igneous evolution. Despite indirect hints, direct evidence of a martian origin came with the discovery of trapped atmospheric gases in one meteorite. Since then, the study of martian meteorites and findings from missions hav...

Lunar Meteorite Source Crater Size: Constraints from Impact Simulations

Hydrocode simulations of lunar impact events show that craters as small as 450 meters in diameter are viable candidates for the source of most lunar meteorites. The lunar cratering flux implies that 6 impact events of this size occurred on the moon in the last 0.1 Ma. This is in good agreement with the number of impacts (7) inferred from the geochemical analysis of the samples in hand. The resu...

The Relative Abundance of Recently-launched Meteorites from the Moon

Introduction: It has been known for over 20 years that certain meteorites originated on the moon and Mars. The launch and delivery of these stones is understood qualitatively as a consequence of impact events on those bodies. One of the puzzling features of the sample population is the relative abundance of lunar vs. Martian meteorites. One would think that lunar meteorites should be much more ...