Impact and habitability scenarios for early Mars revisited based on a 4.45-Ga shocked zircon in regolith breccia
After formation of a primordial crust, early impacts influenced when habitable conditions may have occurred on Mars. Martian meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 is a regolith breccia that contains remnants of the earliest Martian crust. The paucity of shock deformation in NWA 7034 was previously c...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94373 |
| _version_ | 1848765863121911808 |
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| author | Cox, Morgan Cavosie, Aaron Orr, Kenneth Daly, L. Martin, L. Lagain, Anthony Benedix, Gretchen Bland, Phil |
| author_facet | Cox, Morgan Cavosie, Aaron Orr, Kenneth Daly, L. Martin, L. Lagain, Anthony Benedix, Gretchen Bland, Phil |
| author_sort | Cox, Morgan |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | After formation of a primordial crust, early impacts influenced when habitable conditions may have occurred on Mars. Martian meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 is a regolith breccia that contains remnants of the earliest Martian crust. The paucity of shock deformation in NWA 7034 was previously cited as recording a decline in giant impacts by 4.48 billion years and evidence for habitable Mars by 4.2 billion years ago. We present new evidence of high-pressure shock effects in a 4.45-billion year-old zircon from the matrix of NWA 7034. The zircon contains (112) shock twins formed in the central uplift of a complex impact structure after 4.45 billion years and records impact pressures of 20 to 30 gigapascals. The zircon represents the highest shock level reported in NWA 7034 and paired rocks and provides direct physical evidence of large impacts, some potentially life-affecting, that persisted on Mars after 4.48 billion years. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:42:00Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-94373 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:42:00Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-943732024-04-04T06:48:24Z Impact and habitability scenarios for early Mars revisited based on a 4.45-Ga shocked zircon in regolith breccia Cox, Morgan Cavosie, Aaron Orr, Kenneth Daly, L. Martin, L. Lagain, Anthony Benedix, Gretchen Bland, Phil Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics DETRITAL ZIRCONS EVOLUTION CRUST METEORITE PB MICROSTRUCTURES CHRONOLOGY COMPONENTS PRESSURE HISTORY After formation of a primordial crust, early impacts influenced when habitable conditions may have occurred on Mars. Martian meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 is a regolith breccia that contains remnants of the earliest Martian crust. The paucity of shock deformation in NWA 7034 was previously cited as recording a decline in giant impacts by 4.48 billion years and evidence for habitable Mars by 4.2 billion years ago. We present new evidence of high-pressure shock effects in a 4.45-billion year-old zircon from the matrix of NWA 7034. The zircon contains (112) shock twins formed in the central uplift of a complex impact structure after 4.45 billion years and records impact pressures of 20 to 30 gigapascals. The zircon represents the highest shock level reported in NWA 7034 and paired rocks and provides direct physical evidence of large impacts, some potentially life-affecting, that persisted on Mars after 4.48 billion years. 2022 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94373 10.1126/sciadv.abl7497 English http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics DETRITAL ZIRCONS EVOLUTION CRUST METEORITE PB MICROSTRUCTURES CHRONOLOGY COMPONENTS PRESSURE HISTORY Cox, Morgan Cavosie, Aaron Orr, Kenneth Daly, L. Martin, L. Lagain, Anthony Benedix, Gretchen Bland, Phil Impact and habitability scenarios for early Mars revisited based on a 4.45-Ga shocked zircon in regolith breccia |
| title | Impact and habitability scenarios for early Mars revisited based on a 4.45-Ga shocked zircon in regolith breccia |
| title_full | Impact and habitability scenarios for early Mars revisited based on a 4.45-Ga shocked zircon in regolith breccia |
| title_fullStr | Impact and habitability scenarios for early Mars revisited based on a 4.45-Ga shocked zircon in regolith breccia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact and habitability scenarios for early Mars revisited based on a 4.45-Ga shocked zircon in regolith breccia |
| title_short | Impact and habitability scenarios for early Mars revisited based on a 4.45-Ga shocked zircon in regolith breccia |
| title_sort | impact and habitability scenarios for early mars revisited based on a 4.45-ga shocked zircon in regolith breccia |
| topic | Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics DETRITAL ZIRCONS EVOLUTION CRUST METEORITE PB MICROSTRUCTURES CHRONOLOGY COMPONENTS PRESSURE HISTORY |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94373 |