8 - Very Rare Slice of the “Zagami” Martian Meteorite

Very Rare Slice of the “Zagami” Martian Meteorite This fragment of a Martian meteorite offered here was found on October 3, 1962, in Katsina Province in Nigeria and was an "observed impact". This “Zagami” Martian meteorite is a volcanic rock predominantly composed of calcic pyroxene crystals (up to 3 mm in size) which evidence complex compositional zoning. There are also similarly sized grains of maskelynite (plagioclase feldspar that underwent an extraordinary shock event and was transformed into glass) suspended throughout the matrix. Other minerals include ilmenite, ulvöspinel, merrillite, and pyrrhotite. The external surface of has a grey-green cast. Patches of fusion crust — the result of melting during descent through the Earth’s atmosphere — are in evidence. Weight: ca. 28,2 gram. LOCATION: Mars – Shergottite (SNC); Zagami Rock, Nigeria (11°44’ N, 7°5’ E). HISTORY: – The “Zagami” was a so-called ‘observed fall’ and landed about 10 feet (ca. 3 meter) from a Nigerian farmer who was chasing crows from a cornfield. The farmer heard a loud explosion, felt a pressure wave, and watched the stone bury itself about 2 feet (0.61 m) deep into the ground. This “Zagami” meteorite is an iron- and magnesium-rich igneous rock and one of the best-studied Martian meteorites. – On the 7 of November, 1996, 34 years after it fell to Earth, a small fragment of “Zagami” launched back toward Mars aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft; with this symbolic gesture, “Zagami” became the first meteorite to be sent back to its planet of origin by the hand of man. A rare piece of the Red Planet. Size: ca. 7.9 x 6 x 0.3 cm. CERTIFICATE: This Zagami meteorite comes with a certificate of meteorite identification from the University of Alberta and is signed by dr. Christopher Herd, professor and curator of the University of Alberta Meteorite Collection. NOTE: – Specimens from the planet Mars are among the most exotic substances on Earth, with less than 300 kg of known quantities. Martian meteorites reached Earth following an asteroid impact on Mars, which hurled material from the Martian surface into space and into an orbit around the Sun that, in turn, crosses Earth's orbit. Their identification as Martian meteorites is the result of research by hundreds of scientists worldwide. In addition to numerous specific chemical and isotopic characteristics, most Martian meteorites exhibit an unusually young crystallization age; they are much younger than meteorites originating from asteroids. – Like the specimen presented here, there existed a distinct group of enigmatic meteorites that showed many similarities and had formed on a planetary body, but were clearly not of Earth origin. A Martian origin was suspected, given that the escape velocity required to launch rock from the surface of Venus—the other likely candidate—is much higher than that required for Mars. The long-suspected link to Mars remained speculative until 1983, when it was discovered that the composition of the noble gases in a melt cavity closely resembled that of the Martian atmosphere, as measured on the planet's surface by NASA's Viking landers in 1976. – Subsequently, in 1995, a groundbreaking scientific study titled "Signatures of the Martian Atmosphere in Glass of the Zagami Meteorite" was published in the journal ‘Science’. – This “Zagami” Martian Meteorite with an original weight of about 18.1 kilograms (40 lb) was the single largest individual Martian meteorite ever recovered and is classified as a basaltic shergottite, an iron- and magnesium-rich igneous rock originating from Mars. This “Zagami” Martian Meteorite was crucial in helping scientists analyze trapped Martian atmospheric gases. In 1995, scientists discovered tiny gas bubbles trapped inside the meteorite's matrix that perfectly matched the atmospheric composition of Mars recorded by the Viking lander. Later this “Zagami” meteorite was cut up into small pieces.